An Ache of the Best Kind
by AutonomicRogue
Summary: Steve Rogers doesn't want college to affect his relationship with Natasha Romanoff. They've been friends forever, but as college pulls them further in, Steve can find himself struggling to balance his new love life with his old friendship. It definitely doesn't help that he's been trying for years to push away his feelings for Natasha. University/No Superpowers AU
1. Chapter 1

This will be my first multi-chapter fic. I'm not completely sure where the story is going to take me yet, but I have some ideas! I also haven't decided if I'm going to end up adding any smut into this or not, it might just end up being pure fluff and angst, but if I do, the rating will definitely go up. Please favorite, follow, leave a comment, constructive criticism, anything! I would love to hear what you guys think about this!

* * *

Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers have been friends forever. They practically grew up together, them, Bucky Barnes, Tony Stark, Maria Hill, Pepper Potts, Darcy Lewis, Jane Foster, the Maximoff twins, Thor Odinson, Loki Laufeyson (Thor's brother), Bruce Banner, and Clint Barton. They'd been through elementary school together, they had their middle school promotion together, they'd been to every one of each other's birthday's (even when it was supposed to be just family celebrating), and they'd been through high school graduation together. So why was the thought of going off to college making Steve's stomach churn? It's not like they were all going different places, they had all chosen to go to Marvel University, and even if they weren't rooming together, they were all going to be living on the same floor in the dorm. Everything would be fine. They would still have their typical Friday nights at Benny's pizza, the guys would still get together to watch the football games (despite Steve being a Patriots fan and everyone else being anything but that), and he was sure that the girls would still come and bother them while they were trying to watch it. He just couldn't shake this feeling that his life was about to change a whole lot more drastically than he was bargaining for.

* * *

When move in day came, he was excited. He was going to be living with Bucky this year, who was undoubtably his best friend, so he knew they would have a good time. Tony had opted to live with Bruce (no surprise there, they were always doing experiments, and Steve didn't think that anyone else could manage to live with Tony without killing him), Thor and Loki would be rooming together (which was good because Thor could put up with all of Loki's quirks), and Pietro and Clint would be living together (which was a terrible idea as far as Steve was concerned, not for them, but for everyone else. They were always up to something). Steve finished unpacking his stuff and yelled across the living room to Bucky's room that he was going to go and check on the girls to see if they needed any help. Thankfully, they were just right down the hall. Steve stopped by Maria and Pepper's room first, but they were bickering over some odd lamp that Pepper wanted to put in the room that she said would, "make the feng shui so much better," but Maria thought that it was ugly and that said it resembled a penis. Steve decided it was best to stay out of that conversation and moved down the hall to Darcy and Jane's room. They were both coming along pretty well (and he knew that Thor would be by later to help Jane), so he went to the final room in the hall, Natasha and Wanda's.

Before he even entered the room, he could hear their music playing. Natasha was always listening to old rock and he was certain that he could pick out her voice over the track. He chuckled to himself as he knocked.

"It's open," he heard above the music. When he let himself in he burst out laughing at the sight of Natasha jumping on the couch playing air guitar, throwing her hair around, and belting out the lyrics. "Well, Rogers, are you going to just stand there or are you going to help me crush this solo?" Natasha asked as she stopped bouncing and lifted an eyebrow at him. Steve smiled and sighed, taking his jacket off and throwing it onto her kitchen counter. Natasha smiled in victory and went back to what she was doing. The two of them bounced up and down on the couch, air guitar's blazing for the rest of the song and well into the next before they dropped down on the couch both exhausted and laughing.

"I have to say, Nat, you play a mean air guitar," Steve said breathlessly as he wiped the slight perspiration from his forehead.

Natasha laughed in response, "well, you see, it takes years of dedication and practice. Don't worry," she continued, patting him on the leg, "we'll get you there." He let out a hearty laugh. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but what are you doing here, shouldn't you be unpacking?" She asked turning to face him.

"I'm already done," he said with a shrug. "I thought that I would come and see if you needed some help, which obviously you do." His eyes moved over to her bedroom door where he could clearly see the explosion of clothes and boxes all around the room. He lifted an eyebrow up at her, "Nat, have you done any unpacking?"

"No, she hasn't," came a voice from the other bedroom. Wanda appeared at her doorway, a small box in her hands, "She's been jumping on that couch for the last hour. Thank God you're here, I've tried to explain to her that she can't just sleep on top of all of her clothes for a week until she feels like finally putting them away, but every time that I would try to tell her that, she would turn the music up louder and just keep dancing."

Steve turned to Natasha, a look of mock shock on his face, "No, it couldn't be! Natasha Romanoff? Not wanting to listen to something someone tells them?" He said, his voice laced with sarcasm. Natasha reached over a hit him on the arm causing Steve to laugh. "Don't worry Wanda, the show is over, I'll help our resident rock star get unpacking."

"Thank God," Wanda said, clearly exasperated before she turned back into her room to continue unpacking.

Steve stood up and reached a hand out for Natasha. She gladly took it and pulled him with her to her room.

* * *

A couple hours had passed, but Steve felt like they still had hardly gotten anything accomplished. There were still boxes everywhere, though they had gotten most of her clothes put away. Granted, the fact that they kept getting distracted definitely didn't help. Steve bent down to pick up a box when he felt a sharp crack on his butt. He quickly bolted upright and turned around to Natasha who was wearing a shit-eating grin on her face, one of her bath towels swinging in her hand.

"You did not just do that," Steve said narrowing his eyes at her.

Natasha kept swinging the towel in her hand, eyebrow raised in challenge, "and what are you going to do about it, Rogers?" She began to wring the towel up in her hand to hit him again.

"You don't want to do that Romanoff," he warned.

"Mmmm, don't I?" She teased. When she whipped the towel out at him, he grabbed it, expertly twisting it around his hand and pulling it in towards his body. He tried to pull it away from her, but in doing so, he tripped over one of the boxes, sending them both toppling onto the bed. When they landed, Natasha was underneath him, both of their hands still tied in the towel between them, and their faces inches apart. They both stayed there for a minute, heart rates increased, staring into each other's eyes. Steve couldn't help but think about how beautiful she looked, her firey red hair splayed out underneath her, the slight tinge of pink on her cheeks, even the glint of mischief in her eye. Everything about her was breath taking. When he finally pulled himself out of her trance, he rolled over to the side, letting out a breathy laugh.

"I did tell you that you didn't want to do that," he jokingly scolded, turning his head to look at her.

She gave him a sly smile, "I don't know, I didn't mind it so much." Steve tried to swallow, but his mouth seemed to suddenly run dry. This wasn't something unusual, they always flirted with one another, but that didn't mean that it didn't make his heart race or his palms feel sweaty or his mouth run dry whenever they did. I mean, it was normal for them. They did this all the time. It didn't mean anything. They've done this since middle school, it's just harmless flirting, right? He tried not to think on it as he propped himself up on his elbows looking at her moving around the room.

"What do you say we take a break and go grab some food. My treat," He suggested. The only thing that he was more aware of than trying to calm his racing heart down was his stomach threatening to growl. He hadn't eaten all day and it was beginning to get to him.

"Do I get to pick the place?" Natasha replied, not turning around from placing items on her desk.

"Of course. Chinese?" He asked.

"Oh Rogers," Natasha said turning around, a smile on her face, "you know me so well."

He smiled back at her. That he did.


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm so stuffed," Natasha groaned, pushing the rest of her Pad Thai away from her. Steve looked at her amused, "the rest is all yours, Rogers." Steve chuckled. She always did this. Every time that they went somewhere, she would eat what she could a give the rest to Steve. She always knew that he would take it and what could he say, he had a fast metabolism, he was always hungry. Steve gratefully pulled the plate closer to him. "So, what's the plan now?" Natasha asked.

"Hmm?" Steve mumbled as he shoveled the Pad Thai into his mouth.

"Well," Natasha started, "are we going to go finish unpacking my room or are we going to find something actually fun to do?"

Steve laughed, "well, it's up to you. I can at least rest easy knowing that you won't be sleeping on top of your things if we weren't to finish unpacking today." She stuck her tongue out him. "All that's left are the things that are in boxes. We could try out that little coffee place on campus?" He suggested.

"Oooo, yes! I could totally go for a cappuccino," Natasha replied, licking her lips.

"I thought you were so full you were going to burst?" Steve teased.

"It's just coffee, Rogers, not a four-course meal," She rolled her eyes at him. "Besides, we don't have to be back to the dorms until later this evening to get ready for that party Stark's throwing."

"Oh yeah, I completely forgot about that."

"Mhm, Tony wants to make sure that the entire campus knows he's arrived, remember?" They both shook their heads laughing. Steve wiped his mouth with his napkin before throwing it down on the empty plate.

"Well then," he said, sliding out of the booth, "we'd better get to making the most of our time, don't you think?" He held out an elbow for her to wrap her arm around, giving her his boyish smile. She smiled back at him, as she got up and took his arm.

* * *

They began their walk to the coffee shop in silence, the entire way Natasha was trying not to think about how good it felt to have Steve beside her like this or how his muscles squeezed against her arm in the best way or how he was always being so charming and sweet to her. They'd been friends forever, and they would continue to be friends forever. _Besides_ , she thought, _it's not like he would go for me anyway. If he was going to, he would've done it already._ She let out a sigh, thinking that it was just in her head, but when Steve turned to look down at her, she knew it wasn't.

"Everything alright?" He asked, concern painting his face.

"Hmm? Oh, everything's fine," she replied, plastering her brightest smile on her face, "I was just thinking about how I'm ready to get started with this whole college thing."

"Yeah, me too," Steve replied, smiling back at her.

"You did decide to go with art, right? You didn't let your Dad talk you out of it?" She knew that his Dad wanted him to do something more "practical," or rather, something that would help him take over the family business whenever Joseph was finally ready to retire.

"Yeah," Steve replied, sighing and running his free hand through his hair. "I'm doing art as my major, but I'm going to also be doing business as a minor."

"Really?" Natasha said, stopping in place.

"What?" Steve asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"You hate business. You know you hate business, every class related to business that we took in high school you copied off of Pepper. So why put yourself through that?"

"Because, Nat. My Dad wants me to take over his company in the future. I don't really want to, but at least this way I appease him. Besides, if I want to sell my artwork, I should probably have some knowledge of running a business," Steve replied.

Natasha was silent for a few moments, studying his features. She loved Joseph, Joseph had been like another father to her, but she wished that he supported what Steve wanted rather than what he wanted. She knew that Steve didn't want to take over the family business, but she also knew that he would do everything that he could to make sure that the people that meant the most to him were happy, even if that meant doing something that he didn't particularly want to do.

"You know, Steve, sometimes you're too soft," she finally said, giving him a playful push.

"Oh, is that so?" He challenged, nudging her back. She wrapped her arm back around his and continued walking towards the coffee shop.

"Oh yeah," she teased, "you're the worst. Remember that time that you took the blame for Thor when he broke your Mom's favorite picture frame? He was so scared, but you didn't want him to get in trouble, so you took the blame instead."

Steve chuckled at the memory, "I thought that he was going to shit his pants."

"We all did," she replied, "or that time that you got into a fight with those guys that were bullying me out at recess and Bucky had to come and save you?"

"I don't like bullies," he shrugged. "Plus, they deserved it."

"Steve they were twice your size AND they ended up spending the rest of the year kicking your ass," she said exasperated.

"But they left you alone a-"

"But that's my point, Steve," Natasha stopped once more, this time putting a hand on his shoulder, "you do everything for everyone else because that's who you are. You want everyone to be happy, and don't get me wrong, I love that about you. But you want everyone else to be happy, even if it means making yourself miserable in the process." She moved her hand up to his cheek, "I don't want you to be miserable, Steve. I don't want you to be miserable now, and I definitely don't want you to be miserable for the rest of your life. You deserve the world, Steve Rogers."

Steve smiled at her before pulling her into a hug, "thanks Nat," he said, placing his head atop hers. He could smell her shampoo and let out a small sigh. He always felt comfortable whenever hugging her or really whenever he was around her in general. "I'll try to keep that in mind."

"Good," her response was muffled from her face being buried in his chest, "that's all I ask."

He continued to hug her for a few more seconds before letting go, catching himself thinking that he really didn't want to. "You know," he started as he pulled away from her, "you deserve the world too, Nat."

"Oh, I know," she laughed, winking playfully at him. He shook his head at her, unable to help the smile that fell across his lips. She really was something else.


	3. Chapter 3

Hi guys! Thank you so much for reading! I was out of town this weekend and didn't have internet access to be able to post the next chapter. I hope that you guys are enjoying reading as much as I'm enjoying writing. Please leave a review, favorite, follow, etc. I'd love to know what you guys think!

* * *

Steve and Natasha spent an hour in the coffee shop, Natasha enjoyed her cappuccino and Steve enjoyed his black coffee with a generous amount of sugar in it. The whole time they were laughing and reminiscing about stupid things that they (or their friends) had done throughout the years. Once they had finished at the coffee shop, Natasha convinced Steve to walk around the campus with her for a while longer before they had to go back to get ready for Tony's party (though admittedly it didn't take much convincing).

"That's the dance building," Natasha said pointing to a building on their right. "That's where I'll pretty much live for the next four years, I mean, not that I'm complaining." Natasha was a fantastic dancer, she always had been. Ever since Steve had known her she had been in ballet classes and as she got older, she branched out into other types of dance as well. She was the dance team captain at their high school and he never missed a performance, not of her recitals or even just her dancing at the basketball and football games. "You're still going to come to my performances this year, right?" She asked hesitantly.

"Of course!" Steve replied, shocked that she would even ask. "I wouldn't miss it for the world." Natasha looked down at the ground and smiled.

"Thanks Steve. It really means a lot to me."

They continued chatting as they headed back into the dorms. Once they got to their floor, Natasha told Steve that she was going to go get ready and that she would catch up with him at the party later that night. Steve agreed and said goodbye before heading to his room.

"Hey punk, where have you been?" Bucky said as he came out of the bathroom. He had a towel wrapped around his waist and was running another one through his hair as he waited for Steve's reply.

"I told you, I went to see if any of the girls needed help with unpacking," Steve replied as he tossed his keys on their kitchen counter.

"Oh really?" Bucky asked, leaning against the bathroom doorframe. "I know that's what you _said_ you were going to go and do, but last time I checked, none of the girls live at Natasha's favorite Chinese place."

Steve threw his head back and let out a hearty laugh, "oh so you're stalking me now? We're really going to have to get you a girlfriend Buck, this is just getting weird."

"Don't even try to turn this around on me, punk. Wanda told me everything," Bucky replied, pointing a finger in Steve's direction.

"Oh, of course she did," Steve replied winking. "What were _you_ doing _there_?"

"I- well, I was looking for you," Bucky stammered.

"Mhm, and when you couldn't find me, I'm sure you left. Right?" Steve challenged. He pulled out his phone to send a text before quickly shoving it back in his pocket.

"Well, I mean, no. Wanda needed help with unpacking."

"I saw her room, Buck. She was practically done with everything by the time Nat and I left."

Bucky's ears got red at the top, "that's not what we're talking about, we're talking about where you and Natasha have been for the last 4 hours."

"Well you already know that we went to get Chinese food, then we went to the coffee shop, and then we walked around campus for a bit before we came back to get ready for the party," Steve answered leaning against the back of the sofa.

"Sounds like a date to me," Bucky said wiggling his eyebrows at Steve.

"It wasn't a date, Buck. How many times do I have to tell you, Nat and I are just friends," Steve sighed, exasperated.

"Mhm, well then tell me why neither one of you has dated anyone or even tried to go on a date with anyone since junior year of high school," Bucky shot back as he walked into his room to change.

"I don't know what kind of answer you're looking for. I haven't dated anyone since Peggy because, well, I just haven't been interested in anyone and Nat hasn't dated anyone since Murdock probably because he was such a huge dick."

"Riiiiight," Bucky said, peeking his head around the corner, "and you're sure that it has nothing to do with the fact that you two are secretly in love with each other."

"We're not- Buck, look, Nat's my friend. I enjoy spending time with her, she's funny, she's smart, she's witty, challenging, stunning, mischev-," Steve stopped when Bucky raised his eyebrow challenging him to go on, "you get the point." Steve finally said, "But we're just friends. There's nothing going on there. Even _if_ I liked her, it wouldn't matter because if something went wrong, I could lose her, and I'm not going to chance that."

Bucky came around the corner fully dressed and looked at him for a minute. "So, what I'm hearing is, you like her, but you're being a pussy about asking her out." Steve rolled his eyes and flipped him off as he turned to walk into his room. "I'm just saying, tonight would be the perfect time!" Bucky called after him.

"No, Buck." Steve replied as he closed the door. Once the door was fully shut, Steve sighed and ran a hand over his face. Tonight really would be a good time, even if he didn't ask her out, maybe he could at least get an idea for how she felt.

* * *

"Wanda, I'm back!" Nat shouted as she walked into their room.

"It's about time," Wanda replied, appearing from her room. "I need help picking out an outfit for tonight."

"Trying to look good for someone in particular," Natasha teased. "Bucky Barnes, perhaps?" She plopped herself down on Wanda's bed.

Wanda shook her head, "you are the absolute worst. Me and Barnes? Really? We're just friends Nat."

"Mhm," Nat hummed. Just then her phone buzzed, it was a text from Steve.

" _ **Apparently Bucky spent all day with Wanda. Even though Bucky says he was just looking for me. Lol. When are those two going to admit they have feelings for each other. O.o"**_

Natasha suppressed a laugh, as she responded. _**"She's currently denying to me that she has feelings for him, too. Those two are so blind they can't even see how they feel about each other."**_

"Earth to Nat," Wanda said snapping, pulling Natasha's attention from her phone. "Are you going to help me or are you just going to sit there and continue making googly eyes at your phone while you text Steve?"

"I'm not- how did you know that I was texting Steve?" Natasha asked.

"Oh please, when everyone else texts you, your face hardly changes. When Steve texts you, you look like a kid in a candy store. Your face lights up. Now if you help me pick out an outfit for this party, I'll help you pick out an outfit to impress Steve."

"I don't need to impress Steve," Natasha snapped. "We're just friends Wanda."

"Sure Nat, whatever you say. What about this one?" Wanda said holding up a red slim fit dress with gold detailing.

Natasha shook her head, "too fancy. It's a college party, not a board meeting." Wanda held the garment up one more time before throwing it to the side, obviously agreeing with Natasha's opinion. "Seriously though, there's nothing going on between us. We've been friends for a long time, we're just close."

Wanda held up a different outfit for a minute before deciding for herself that it wasn't the right one. "Close enough that it caused problems between you and Murdock," Wanda said matter of factly.

"Please," Natasha huffed, "Murdock and I didn't break up because of Steve. We broke up because he was a controlling jackass." Wanda held up another outfit, this time she had a pair of distressed jeans and a flowy blouse.

"But you have to admit that it didn't help."

Natasha looked over the outfit for a minute, "Change the top. Go with that olive green top that you have. The one that's a little more fitted. It'll show off your figure better." Wanda dug in her closet for a minute before producing the top.

"This one?" She asked holding it up.

"Perfect," Natasha said, "Bucky won't be able to take his eyes off of you." She stood up to leave the room.

"Nat," Wanda said, stopping her just before she left the room. "if you do like Steve, I'm sure he likes you, too."

"It's not going to happen, Wanda." She replied, "But feel free to keep trying." Natasha turned and walked out of the room, Wanda shook her head at Natasha's insistence.

"Thanks again for help with the outfit!" Wanda called after her.

"Anytime!" Natasha called back as she closed her bedroom door. _He's not into you like that, Romanoff. Don't even entertain the thought._


	4. Chapter 4

When Steve and Bucky showed up to the party, it was already packed. It was a sea of drunk college kids dancing around and mingling with one another. Steve began to scan the party for their friends but was having a hard time finding anyone he knew. He looked over at Bucky who was surveying the scene before them.

Bucky finally caught Steve's eye and they both nodded simultaneously, "booze." They walked over to the bar area that had been set up and grabbed a couple of beers. Steve wasn't a huge beer fan, but he didn't want to start drinking heavily just yet.

"Do you see any of the group?" Bucky yelled over the music.

"No, not yet."

"Wait," Bucky pulled on Steve's sleeve and pointed off to the right, "Tony." Steve saw Tony moving throughout the crowd and talking to everyone as he passed by.

"Gentlemen," Tony said as he approached them. He threw his arms over their shoulders, "how's it going? Enjoying yourselves?"

Both Bucky and Steve mumbled some agreeance.

"Don't look now Steve-O, but your red head is here," Tony said, slapping Steve on the back and pointing over to the left.

"She's not my-," Steve cut himself off whenever he saw her. She looked amazing. She was wearing a pair of dark wash skinny jeans, a deep red colored blouse that looked amazing against her pale skin, and some wedges.

"Careful man, your tongue is hanging out of your mouth," Bucky pushed his elbow against Steve's ribs, but Steve smacked his hand away. Steve could see that Natasha was looking around trying to find someone that she knew, so he raised his hand and waved in her direction. When she saw him standing there waving at him, a smile came across her face. She turned around and a few seconds later, the rest of the girls appeared next to her. They all began walking over to where Steve, Bucky, and Tony were standing.

"Pepper!" Tony shouted as she got closer, "don't you look amazing, as always I might add."

"Oh, hush Tony," Pepper responded, trying to act nonchalant, but blushing ever so slightly at the compliment.

Tony moved next to her and held out his arm for her, "come on, I want to introduce you to some of my new friends."

Pepper took his arm and they began to walk away, "you can't just meet people and suddenly decide that they're your friends, Tony. That's not how that works." Steve could hear Tony arguing back as they disappeared from his sight.

The group stood there chatting until a few minutes later Jane saw Thor and Loki standing with a group of people over by the kegs. She went over to talk to them and Darcy went with her. Maria also left to go and mingle with some people. Bucky and Wanda were chatting about something, while Steve and Natasha stood at the bar.

"Alright Rogers," Natasha said taking the beer out of his hand and chugging the rest of it down. She made a face at the taste and Steve laughed, "enough of this. It's time for the good stuff." She caught the bartender's attention and got 3 shots for each of them, vodka for herself, and whisky for Steve. She grabbed the first of her shots and held it up, waiting for Steve to do the same. He laughed and shook his head grabbing his shot and tapping it against hers. "Bottom's up."

Steve winced a little at the burning of the whisky going down his throat, but after a couple of seconds, the burning turned into a pleasant warmth sitting in his stomach. "What do you think they're talking about?" Steve asked turning his head to look over his shoulder at Bucky and Wanda.

Natasha turned and did the same, "they're probably talking about how deeply in love with each other they are."

Steve let out a hearty laugh and grabbed another one of his shots, "yeah, right. They're both too afraid to admit it." This time, Natasha laughed, grabbing her shot and tapping it against his.

"You know," Natasha said turning to look at Steve. "Wanda pointed out to me today that I haven't dated anyone since Murdock."

Steve looked at her and raised an eyebrow, "Are you trying to tell me that you miss that douchebag?"

Natasha laughed, "Not at all, I just hadn't really thought about it. It didn't seem like it had been that long."

Steve nodded in agreement, "Bucky actually said the same thing to me today about Peggy."

Natasha looked down at her hands for a moment and then back up to him, "the difference there is that you actually do miss her."

Steve furrowed his eyebrows together, "No, I wouldn't really say that I miss her. I did for a while, but I'm over it. We didn't work out and that's…fine. Plus, it was a long time ago."

Natasha raised her eyebrow at him, "So you're going to start dating again?"

Steve looked at her for a moment before grabbing his last shot, "I didn't say that I was going to start dating again. I'm just saying I don't have feelings for Peggy anymore."

Natasha pondered on this for a moment before grabbing her shot, tapping it to his, and throwing it back. "Well, who's got your eye Rogers," she said, batting her eyelashes at him flirtatiously.

Steve choked on his shot and laughed, "No one in particular, Nat. Don't worry." He winked at her, trying to play it off like he wasn't caught off guard. He caught the bartender's attention and ordered them three more shots each. "What about you, huh? Like you said, you haven't dated anyone since Murdock, do you have your eye on someone?" He quirked his eyebrow at her as he took one of the freshly placed shots and drank it before she even had a chance to grab hers.

"Mmm, I don't know. I'll definitely say that I've played around with the idea," she responded, pulling the shot up to her lips and looking at him over the rim for a moment before drinking the shot down.

"Ahh, so it's Stark, huh?" Steve teased.

"Oh my gosh, no! Absolutely not!"

Steve slid another shot closer to himself. _You can get an idea of how she feels, Rogers._ "Well then, if it's not Stark, it's got to be one of the other guys. Come on Nat, you know you can tell me anything." He leaned a little closer to her, picking up the shot and holding it up waiting for her to do the same.

"That I can Rogers," she said leaning closer to him as well. For a moment, he thought about kissing her, but then she reached between them and tapped the glasses together before taking her shot. "There are still some secrets though that I keep for myself." She winked at him as he leaned back and took his shot. Still fixated on how close their faces were just moments before.

"Keep throwing back shots like that and I'm sure you'll tell me by the end of the night, you know how chatty you get when you're drunk," He playfully leaned into her side and she pushed him back.

"Mmhm, about as chatty as _you_ get when you're drunk, so if there's someone you've got your eye on, you might as well just tell me now," she responded.

"I already told you Nat, I'm not really looking." _Because she might be right in front of me,_ he added in his head.

"Pity Rogers, it'd be nice if you got out there again," she grabbed her last shot and threw it back. "I'm going to go and mingle, I'll be back in a bit." He grabbed his last shot and turned to watch her walk away. He loved watching the way that she confidently swung her hips as she walked. Just before she disappeared into the crowd, she looked back over her shoulder meeting his gaze before smiling and walking off. God she was enticing.

* * *

Steve finished off the last of his shots and walked over to Bucky and Wanda joining in on their conversation for a bit. After a while, Clint and Pietro came over with Darcy and Maria in tow. The six of them chatted for a while longer and before he knew it, Steve could feel the effects the shots were taking on him. It had been about an hour since Natasha had walked off to talk to people and Steve was starting to worry.

Bucky leaned over to him and yelled over the music, "dude, if you're worried about her, go find her. You know she can hold her own though." Steve shook his head and pulled out his phone. He was just about to text her when she texted him.

 _ **By the DJ. Bring me something fruity with vodka.(;**_

Steve smiled and quickly typed back, _**Oh, you're making demands now? What's in it for me? :P**_ He hesitated before sending it, but his alcohol riddled brain ultimately won out in the decision making process.

 _ **Bring it and you'll see. (;**_ She sent back. That was it, he was sold. Even if it was nothing, he was beginning to miss having her around. He walked back over to the bar and grabbed a whisky and coke and grabbed Natasha a sex on the beach. He was making his way through the throngs of drunk college students when he ran right into a blonde-haired girl spilling some of Natasha's drink on her.

"I am so sorry," Steve apologized as she turned around to face him. "I can completely help you clean that up, um here, follow me to the bar." He turned and began to walk back over to the bar, checking behind him a couple of times to make sure that the girl was still following him. Steve reached over the bar grabbing a handful of napkins and handing them over to the girl. "I'm so sorry about that again, I should've paid better attention."

The girl smiled at him as she began wiping the drink off of her shirt, "It's really okay. There's a lot of people here. Honestly, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. At least you offered to help me clean up a bit."

Steve smiled back at her, "well, I feel like it's really the least I can do. I'm Steve by the way, Steve Rogers."

"So that's where I know you from," she replied, grabbing another napkin.

"I'm sorry, what?" Steve asked, clearly confused.

"You dated my cousin."

"I dated your- wait? Peggy?"

"Yeah, I'm Sharon, Sharon Carter," she said as she stopped wiping her shirt off. Steve looked at her shocked.

"Wow, um- I'm sorry, it's been a while. I should have recognized you," Steve finally said after a long pause.

Sharon laughed, "it's okay, Steve. We only met each other a couple of times. It's no surprise you don't remember me."

Steve gave her a sheepish look as he turned back to the bartender and ordered another drink for Natasha. "Well, like I said, I am really sorry."

"No worries," Sharon replied.

"So, what are you doing here? Do you go here?"

"Yeah, I graduated in the spring. I just moved in today. I'm guessing you're going here too?" She asked.

The bartender came back and gave Steve the new drink. "Yeah, I am. I just moved in as well. I'm sure I'll end up seeing you around campus. I really should get going, but it was nice to see you again," he said as he began to walk away.

"You too, Steve. See you around!"

Steve disappeared in the crowd. _Okay, time to find Nat,_ he thought to himself. He continued on the path that he was on before he ran into Sharon and eventually saw Natasha's red hair bouncing up and down near the dance floor as she danced along to the music.

"STEVE!" She yelled when he came into her view. She threw her arms around him, nearly spilling the drinks in his hand, once again. "Mine," she said, as she grabbed her drink out of his hand. Steve laughed and shook his head at her, she was definitely drunk.

"Having fun?"

"Mmm, I'm having more fun now," she replied taking a big drink. She grabbed his hand and pulled him into the center of the dance floor. "DANCE WITH ME!" She shouted as she began to jump up and down and move her body to the music. Steve snaked his arm around her waist and she turned around, her back pressed flush against him. Steve let out a small sigh at the feeling of her being in his arms. It was hardly the first time they'd danced like this. They'd been to plenty of parties, inebriated plenty of times. He was always her dance partner (especially when she didn't want to get hit on), but with the alcohol coursing through his veins, the feeling of her pressed up against him, and the beat of the music, Steve felt even more intoxicated.

"Do you want to get out of here?" He asked after a few songs had passed.

Natasha quickly finished off the last of her drink before tossing the up in the trash can next to the dance floor. "Absolutely," she replied, grabbing his hand and dragging him behind after her. He, too, finished off the rest of his drink and threw his cup away before gladly following along.

* * *

When they finally reached their dorm, they decided to go to Natasha's room. As soon as she got the door open, she groaned and slipped her feet out of the wedges that she was wearing. Steve chuckled at her as he walked over to her couch.

"I don't see why you wear those things when you're always dying to get out of them."

"It's style, Rogers," she taunted, "plus they make my legs look really good."

 _That they do,_ he thought to himself. She continued complaining as she walked into her room to change out of the clothes that she was wearing. When she came back, she was wearing one of Steve's t-shirts that he'd left at her house forever ago and a pair of shorts.

"Here," she said, throwing another one of his shirts and a pair of his shorts at him, "you can change into these."

"Nat, how many shirts of mine do you have?" Steve asked, though he wasn't really sure he minded.

She gave him a sly smile, "just go change, Rogers."

Steve quickly slipped into the bathroom and out of the clothes he was wearing before heading back towards the couch. Natasha was standing in the kitchen popping a bag of popcorn and grabbing drinks (their usual after party ritual).

"Alright," she said as she returned, her hands overflowing with goodies, "what are we watching tonight?"

"Hmmm," Steve hummed, tossing a handful of popcorn into his mouth, "I'm up for a comedy."

"Just Go With It it is, then," Natasha said, queuing up Netflix. They started the movie and chatted through the beginning of it. Natasha told Steve about the people that she had met at the party, and Steve told Natasha about running into Sharon Carter.

"I can't believe you didn't freak out."

"Why would I freak out?"

"Because she's Peggy's cousin," Natasha stated.

"Nat, I told you, I'm over Peggy," Steve replied turning to face her.

"You might be over Peggy, but you can't tell me that it still wasn't a little weird," Natasha challenged, turning to face him as well. Steve thought on this for a moment before responding.

"I mean, yeah it was a little weird, but it's been 3 years. Plus, she had nothing to do with that whole mess," Steve shrugged his shoulders.

"Mhm," Natasha replied, tossing a piece of popcorn into her mouth, "well, I still would have paid to see your face whenever she told you who she was." She raised an eyebrow at him and he laughed.

"I'm sure it was something like this," Steve made a goofy face at her and she laughed, leaning her body back until her back was rested comfortably on the arm of the couch. She lifted her legs up and draped them over Steve's. Without being prompted, Steve absent mindedly picked up one of her feet and began rubbing it. Natasha hummed in approval. Steve continued to massage her feet while watching the movie. He eventually looked over to see that Natasha had completely fallen asleep. Steve let out a soft chuckle and moved his body out from underneath her legs. He moved the popcorn off of her lap, picked her up gingerly into his arms, and carried her into her bedroom. He nearly tripped over the boxes that they had left from earlier that day but was able to get her there without any incident. He carefully laid her down and pulled her blankets up to cover her.

"Goodnight Nat," he said, leaning down to kiss her forehead. She let out a soft noise when he kissed her, and it made his stomach flip. He was tempted to crawl into bed next to her but turned and left the room instead. He gave her one last look before shutting her bedroom door behind him and walking out to the living room to clean up. As he finished picking up the last of the mess and went to turn the TV off, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket.

 _ **Can you stay at Nat's?**_ It was from Bucky. Steve groaned and ran a hand over his face.

 _ **Here now. I'll sleep on the couch. Use protection.**_ Steve sent back.

 _ **Thanks, punk. Don't wait up.**_

Steve sighed and settled in on the couch, letting his memories of the night flood over him until he drifted peacefully off to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

It was around 10 a.m. when Steve woke up to the sound of the front door clicking shut. He laid there, eyes closed, pretending to still be asleep as Wanda snuck past and into her room. When her door shut, Steve finally opened his eyes. He was instantly hit with a pounding headache and the overwhelming urge to vomit. He slowly got up and stumbled his way into the bathroom searching around for where Natasha and Wanda kept their ibuprofen. When he finally found it, he poured out four for himself and four for Natasha, as he was sure that she was going to need it whenever she finally woke up. Steve walked into the kitchen, grabbed himself a glass of water, took the ibuprofen and stood there for a moment. He then grabbed another glass and the four ibuprofen he set aside earlier and went to Natasha's door. He gently knocked before opening it. Natasha was splayed out on the bed, her face buried in her pillows, and her arm hanging off of the side. Steve smiled and walked over to her bedside table. He thought that she could probably use some more rest, so he decided to let her sleep and set the glass of water and medicine down before turning to walk out of the room. When he shut Natasha's door, he walked over to Wanda's door and tapped quietly on it. He heard a groan come from the other side and the door opened a few seconds later. Wanda had her hair pulled up on top of her head, an oversized t-shirt on, and looked extremely pale in the face. Steve gave her a sympathetic look.

"I was just getting ready to head back to my room, I'm pretty sure that it's safe to go there by now. I just wanted to make sure that you didn't need anything before I left," Steve said.

"I think I'm good, Steve. Thank you though," Wanda replied, running her hands over her face.

"No problem," Steve said turning to walk away. "Oh, and nice shirt."

Wanda looked down at the shirt that she was wearing, "uh, yeah, thanks. I've had it for a while now, I just only wear it around the house."

"Funny," Steve replied, "Bucky has a shirt exactly like that." Wanda's mouth dropped open to protest, but Steve just turned around and winked at her before exiting the apartment.

* * *

Steve walked down the hall to his room, not encountering anyone else along the way. He assumed that they were probably all still laid up in bed with hangovers as well. Steve opened up the door to his apartment to walk in on Bucky standing in the kitchen, his head down on the counter.

"Hey man," Steve laughed, "you doing alright?"

"No," he moaned, slipping down onto the floor.

Steve walked around the counter to sit next to him. "So, how did last night go?" He asked after a moment.

"What do you mean?" Bucky replied.

"You asked me not to come back, so you obviously had someone over."

"Maybe not, maybe I just wanted you to stay over with Natasha," Bucky teased, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh, is that so?" Steve quipped, "well, then I guess that would explain why Wanda didn't come back until 10 this morning or why she was wearing your shirt. I'm sure that, being the good friend that you are, you just happened to have her come over here because you wanted something to happen between Natasha and me." Steve clapped him on the back, "thanks for taking one for the team buddy, but nothing happened."

Bucky laughed, "I had to try." He shrugged his shoulders, "just, can we keep this between you, me, Nat, and Wanda? I don't need everyone else finding out about it right now and making things more complicated. We're still trying to figure it out."

Steve smiled, "of course, jerk. I'm happy for you." He nudged him playfully on the shoulder before moving to get up.

"Hey, how did things go with you and Nat? Did you finally admit your feelings to one another?" Bucky asked.

"No, Buck. We just had a normal night. Just like every other time that we go out together," Steve responded. "But I did run into Peggy's cousin Sharon at the party. I guess she goes here now."

"Sharon? The blonde one? Dude she's hot, if you're not going to tell Nat how you feel about her, you might as well try things with Sharon."

"Bucky, she's my ex-girlfriend's cousin. Plus, it's not like she hit on me or anything. I split Natasha's drink all over her, so I was helping her clean up and we got to chatting. It was just friendly talk," Steve responded.

"Smooth pal. I'm just saying, if that opportunity arises, you should at least consider it," Bucky said standing up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go throw up." Steve laughed as Bucky disappeared into the bathroom. He went into his room, threw himself down on the bed, and pulled out his phone. He had a text from Natasha.

 _ **Thanks for taking care of me last night, and thanks for the ibuprofen and water this morning. You're the best ;***_

Steve smiled as he texted back.

 _ **No problem (: How are you feeling?**_

Steve put down his phone and threw his arm over his head. His head was still pounding from the hangover. It was about a minute later before his phone buzzed again.

 _ **This hangover is killing me, and I need food, want to meet up for lunch at 12:30?**_

Steve looked at the time, it was 11:00 now, so he still had plenty of time to get a shower and meet her.

 _ **I'm going to grab a quick shower and change, but I'll pick you up at your door at 12:30. How's burgers sound?**_

He sent the message and not 30 seconds later, she responded.

 _ **Sounds perfect. I'll be ready (:**_


	6. Chapter 6

Steve showered and changed, putting on a button up shirt and a pair of khakis before getting ready to head over to Natasha's room. He had been waiting around for about 30 minutes before he decided that he would just go over there and wait until she was ready to leave.

"Buck, I'm leaving!" Steve shouted, "try not to throw up on anything important." Steve walked out of the apartment hearing Bucky yell back something that sounded vaguely like "fuck you." When Steve stepped out into the hallway, he saw Maria and Clint stepping out of the elevator with McDonald's bags in their hands.

"Hey man," Clint yelled.

"You're so loud, shut up." Maria slapped him on the arm.

Clint stuck his tongue out at her in return.

"Hey guys, how are you doing?"

"Well, this one has a hangover and so does practically everyone else, so we decided to make a McDonalds run to try to help. But she," Clint said, a glint of mischief in his eyes, "almost threw up in my car twice on the way there."

"CLINT! You said that you weren't going to tell anyone about that, and I didn't so it's really not that funny," Maria snapped, giving Clint the dirtiest look she could manage.

"Maybe not," Clint shrugged, "but you freaking out about it sure was worth a laugh." Maria huffed and walked down the hall.

"I'm going to my room, see you later Steve!"

"Bye Maria," Steve chuckled.

"I'm going to take off too Buddy, Pietro's probably spewed his guts all over our room by now." Clint reached over and slapped Steve on the shoulder as he walked past him and down the hall to his room. Steve said goodbye and began walking toward Natasha's room again. He was about halfway down the hall when he heard Clint yell, "DUDE WHAT THE HELL? ON THE COUCH? REALLY?" Steve let out an audible laugh thinking about what Clint must've just walked in on. He approached Natasha's door, knocking loudly to make sure that she could hear him if she was in her room.

"Just a second!" Natasha yelled from the other side of the door. A couple seconds later, he heard Natasha running through the apartment and the door flew open. She was standing there in her robe, a towel twisted in her hair. She was practically glowing, though her cheeks were still a little pink from just getting out of the shower. "Hey," she said breathlessly, "come on in. I'm still getting ready." She stepped aside for Steve to enter the room.

"Hey, sorry I'm early."

"You're fine," Natasha said nonchalantly, "you'll just have to wait for me to get ready."

Steve hummed and sat down on the couch, "oh, so nothing new here."

Natasha let out a laugh and flipped him off as she walked back into the bathroom. Steve felt a familiar smile spread across his face. He pulled out his phone and began scrolling through Twitter, reading funny tweets aloud to Natasha as he came across them. Before he knew it, she was standing in front of him in a fitted tank top, a pair of jean shorts, and some flip flops. She had her hair pulled back and out of her face, with minimal make-up on. She looked stunning.

"Ready?" She asked, reaching a hand out to help pull him up off of the couch.

"Mmm, I don't know," he replied, pushing himself further into the couch, "this couch is pretty comfy."

She rolled her eyes at him and reached down grabbing his hand and attempting to pull him up. He let himself go limp and she let out a frustrated laugh as she continued to try to pull him up. After a couple moments of struggling, he finally stopped resisting and she successfully pulled him up. She gave him a triumphant smile and a slight shove in the ribs.

"Let's go, you big pain," Natasha teased, walking towards the door. Steve chuckled and followed.

* * *

At lunch, they talked about the party the previous night, about their classes that were about to start on Monday, about Wanda and Bucky, as well as other things. When they were finally finished with lunch, Natasha gave Steve a small smile.

"Hey Steeeevie," she crooned, batting her eyelashes at him.

Steve rolled his eyes, "what do you want now?" He replied.

She frowned at him. "I was just going to ask if we could go to that little ice cream shop that we went to after prom last year. You know, the one that has the chocolate ice cream that I love?" She batted her eyelashes again and gave him her sweetest smile.

Steve laughed, "I suppose. I mean, how could I say no to that face?" Natasha practically jumped out of her seat, grabbing her purse.

"Yes! Let's go!"

* * *

It was about a 30-minute drive to the ice cream parlor. Natasha put herself in charge of the music along the way, choosing mostly classic rock, though Steve didn't mind. The two of them sang at the top of their lungs and Natasha danced in her seat to the music. When they arrived at the ice cream parlor, Natasha jumped out of the car and ran inside. Steve followed after her, amused with how excited she was. Steve walked up behind Natasha and pulled out his wallet so he would be ready when they got to the checkout.

"How can I hel-oh, hi Steve!" A cheery voice greeted. Steve quickly looked up at the mention of his name. Standing in front of him was Sharon Carter.

"Sharon, hey, I didn't know you worked here," Steve replied, giving her a warm smile.

"Oh, I just started within the last few months, but it's not a bad gig. I get to eat all of the chocolate ice cream I want. The chocolate is my favorite, I definitely recommend you try it."

"That's actually Natasha's favorite, too," Steve said, gesturing over to Natasha who was standing just a few feet away from them. "Hey Nat," Steve called, getting Natasha's attention, "this is Sharon Carter, she's Peggy's cousin." Natasha gave Sharon a smile and greeted her before moving further down the line with her ice cream. Sharon gave her a small smile back before turning back to Steve.

"See anything you like?" She asked, leaning her weight on the counter.

"Ummm, I think I'll go with the birthday cake," Steve replied after a moment.

"Good choice. Do you come around her often? I don't think I've ever seen you in here before."

"Not really, but this is Natasha's favorite ice cream place and I let her talk me into bringing her here," Steve looked down the line at where Natasha was standing, clutching her ice cream and waiting for Steve.

"Ah, I see, well I'm glad that you guys finally decided to get together," Sharon said as she scooped his ice cream.

"We're not-we're just friends," Steve stammered.

"I'm so sorry! I just thought that-oh wow, that's so embarrassing. I should've just kept my mouth shut," Sharon replied, blush creeping up onto her cheeks.

"No, it's really okay. Don't worry about it." Sharon moved down the line, handing Steve his ice cream and ringing up their total. Whenever Steve paid, Natasha went to go and grab them a table.

Sharon pulled the receipt off and quickly wrote something down before handing Steve it and his card. "Here you go! If you need anything else, let me know," she said, winking at him before returning back to work.

"Um, thanks," Steve said, giving her a small smile. He quickly turned around and walked over to where Natasha was sitting.

She had just shoved a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth but raised her eyebrow at him quizzically, waiting for him to say something.

"What?" Steve asked, feeling his cheeks begin to blush.

"She's totally into you."

"She's not into me, we know each other from Peggy, she was just being friendly," Steve shot back.

"Mhm, sure," Natasha rolled her eyes, "did you look at your receipt?"

Steve furrowed his brows and pulled his wallet back out of his pocket. When he pulled the receipt out, he saw that she had written her number at the top with a winky face next to it and the words "text me." Steve nearly choked on his ice cream.

"You're so blind, Rogers," Natasha laughed.

"I'm not blind. I just didn't think, I mean, she's Peggy's cousin."

Natasha gave him a look that said "so?" as he stared back at her incredulously.

"Oh, so I'm just supposed to text her and ask her out on a date? Like, 'hey, I know I dated your cousin and things ended rough between us, but would you like to go out on a date sometime?'"

"What would be wrong with that?"

"Everything," Steve said, putting his spoon down. "I don't think that I could do that."

"Well do you think she's cute?" Natasha asked.

"I mean, she's pretty, yeah," Steve replied after a moment.

"Do you like talking to her?"

"She's interesting to talk to, I suppose. We've only really had two conversations."

"Well, then you should ask her out." Natasha declared.

"Oh, what? Do you want me to ask her out?" Steve replied, secretly hoping that she would say no.

Natasha shrugged indifferently, "you should branch out. If you like her, go for it." They both sat in silence for a few moments, finishing their ice cream.

"Maybe I will, then," Steve practically whispered.

"Good," Natasha gave him a warm smile before standing to leave. "Are you ready to go?" Steve nodded and got up from the table feeling surprisingly numb. He really shouldn't feel this way, right? Like he's been saying to Bucky all along, they don't have feelings for each other. They're just best friends. _Well, you did say the other night that you could find out how she felt,_ he thought, _maybe now you have your answer._

* * *

The ride back resembled the ride there, only Steve wasn't as vocal as he had been before. Natasha took notice but assumed that he was probably just thinking about Peggy or Sharon. When they finally arrived home, Steve said goodbye to Natasha before heading towards his room.

"Steve," Natasha called after him. He stopped and turned to look at her, "we're still good for brunch tomorrow, right?" She asked, hesitantly.

Steve shot her back a bright smile, "Of course, Nat. I'll come pick you up at 11." She smiled back at him before saying goodbye.

When Steve got into his room, he leaned back against the door before sliding down to sit on the floor. He pulled out his wallet and grabbed the receipt. He really should just throw it away. Like he said before, she's Peggy's cousin. He held the receipt in his hand for a few moments longer before sighing and pulling out his phone.

 _ **Hey Sharon, it's Steve.**_


	7. Chapter 7

Hi guys! Sorry for the late upload today, it's been a super crazy day. These two chapters are pretty short compared to the others that I've posted recently, but I feel like they were better off as two separate chapters rather than one that tried to combine both Steve and Natasha's views. In the next chapter or two, we'll get to see some Avengers bonding! Yay! As always, please like, follow, review, etc.!

* * *

"Hey, you're back," Wanda greeted as Natasha walked in the room.

"Hey," Natasha replied, throwing her stuff on the kitchen counter. She kicked off her shoes by the door and walked over to the couch, throwing her body down on it.

"Still not feeling well?" Wanda asked, concern painting her features.

"Worse, if possible," Natasha mumbled through the couch cushion.

"I'm sorry, do you need anything?"

"Some common sense would help," Natasha sighed, pulling her face out of the couch.

"I'm guessing that this isn't about being hungover?" Wanda asked, walking into the kitchen to get a glass of water.

"Unfortunately, no, though that would be preferable," Natasha mumbled.

"So, what's going on then?" Wanda sat down next to Natasha on the couch, handing her the glass of water. Natasha took it and stared into it for a few moments before taking a drink of it.

"Well," she started, "so, you remember Peggy that Steve dated?"

"Yeah of course, he was a wreck when they broke it off."

Natasha hummed in agreement as she took another sip, "well she has this cousin, Sharon, and apparently Sharon goes to school here now."

"Really?" Wanda said, raising her eyebrows.

Natasha nodded. "Mhm, and Steve ran into her at the party last night. He accidentally spilled my drink on her when he was bringing it to me, so he was helping her clean up and they got to talking."

Wanda gave her a confused look, "so, you're upset because they were…talking?"

Natasha shook her head, "No, I'm not upset because they were talking. Anyway, today we went and grabbed food and then Steve took me to my favorite ice cream place, -"

"The place that we went after prom?" Wanda interjected.

"Exactly, that one. Well, I guess that she works there, so we were getting our ice cream and she was talking with him, flirting, leaning over a little further on the counter, batting her eyelashes at him, the usual stuff, which was fine because he didn't even seem to notice, but then, -"

"Then?"

"Then when we went to pay. She wrote her number down on the receipt and told him to text her, and me, being the self-sabotaging person I am, told him that he should do it," Natasha grumbled.

"Wait, you _told_ him he should text her?" Wanda asked incredulously.

"Yep," Natasha replied, "He didn't even really seem that interested, but I just couldn't stop myself. I don't even know why I did it, it's not like I want him to go out with her. I really don't want him to, in fact, the thought makes me sick to my stomach."

Wanda gave a sympathetic smile, "because you have feelings for him."

"Because I have feelings for him," Natasha echoed, grabbing one of the throw pillows off of the couch and covering her face with it. "God I'm so stupid."

"You're not stupid, Nat. Why haven't you told him how you feel?"

"I don't know," she sighed. "I don't want to do anything to ruin our friendship. He's my best friend in the whole world, Wanda. I know that I can always go to him, that I can always count on him, I don't want to risk that by saying something to him, or worse, having us date and it not work out. It would kill me, Wan."

"Natasha, you know that no matter what happened between you two, you would still be friends. I'm positive that Steve feels the same way about you, and you know that he wouldn't let that happen to you guys," Wanda replied.

"I can't risk that."

"So, what? You're just going to push him toward someone else because you're afraid?"

Natasha shrugged. "It's better that way."

"Even if it makes you miserable?" Wanda asked in a small voice.

"I'm sure that I'll move on, as long as he's still my best friend, I'll be fine," Natasha stated. She moved to get off the couch and into her room. "I'm going to take a nap, I'm exhausted. When I get up do you want to order pizza and watch some cheesy romcoms? Maybe we could invite over the other girls."

Wanda smiled, "Yeah Nat, sounds good."

Natasha nodded and began to close her door. She quickly stopped herself and peeked out the door once more. "Hey Wanda?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks for being here for me."

Wanda looked up and met Natasha's eyes, "of course Nat, I'll always be here for you."

Natasha gave her a smile back, "good, I'll always be here for you too." She went to shut her door again before stopping herself once more. "Oh, and Wanda?"

"Yeah?"

"You'd better tell me all about you and Bucky when I wake up."

Wanda let out a laugh, "you got it."

Natasha shut her door and threw herself down on her bed. Maybe the best way for her to get past the feelings that she has for Steve is to try to find someone else. _Classes start Monday,_ she thought to herself, _hopefully I met someone that can help me take my mind off of him._


	8. Chapter 8

_**Friday at 7 sounds great! I'll see you then (:**_

Steve reread the text message over and over. _What are you doing, Rogers?_ He thought to himself. It's just a date, not even a date really, they just agreed to hang out. There's nothing saying that he has to go out with her again if he doesn't want to. Who knows, maybe he'll even end up having some fun. _At least Natasha will be happy,_ he thought bitterly.

"What's got you all worked up, punk?" Bucky asked as he walked into the living room. Steve was instantly pulled from his thoughts.

"Nothing," he replied curtly looking down at the message on his screen once more before flipping onto a different app.

"Oh, come on, I'm your best friend, you tell me everything," Bucky jumped over the back of the couch and landed next to Steve. "So, what's going on?"

Steve sighed, it really shouldn't be that big of a deal, should it? He was going to go out on a date with a cute girl who seemed interesting and who was obviously interested in him. Why shouldn't he be happy? Why wasn't he happy?

"I'm going out with Sharon this Friday."

Bucky clapped Steve on the back, "hey, that's a good thing!" He furrowed his brow when he noticed that Steve's demeanor didn't change, "why aren't you excited?"

"I don't know," Steve replied after a moment, "I should be, shouldn't I? I just can't stop thinking,-"

"About Natasha? About Peggy? About Natasha and Peggy?" Bucky asked, one right after another.

"No," Steve said, rolling his eyes, "well, I don't know…maybe."

"Wait, which one? All of them?" Bucky asked again.

"No, just one," Steve answered, looking down at his hands.

"Ah, so Natasha. Why are you worried about her? I thought you said you didn't have feelings for her?" Bucky raised his eyebrows at Steve and gave him a sly smile.

"Shut up, Buck. Now isn't the time for you to gloat."

Bucky chuckled, "well, if you weren't so predictable, I wouldn't have to gloat." At this, Steve gave out a small puff of laughter. "So, really, why are you worried about her?"

"I'm not. I mean, I am. I don't know. She's the one who told me that I should ask Sharon out, so really, I shouldn't even be thinking about her like that. She obviously doesn't feel the same way about me."

"She told you to ask Sharon out? Are you positive that she was serious?" Bucky asked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"Yeah she was completely serious. She was even insistent on it." Steve replied, casting his eyes downward once more.

"Damn." Bucky said after a moment of sitting in silence. "Well, do you like Sharon?"

"It's like I told Natasha, we've only had a few conversations, but she seems nice enough," Steve murmured.

"So, you go out on one date. You see what you think of her and if you don't end up liking her like that, then you don't go out again. It's not like you're immediately committed to her because you went on one date," Bucky replied, giving Steve a playful shove in the shoulder.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Steve said, finally cracking a small smile.

"And you and Natasha will be just fine. Who knows, maybe you'll end up really liking Sharon."

Steve shrugged, "I mean, it's possible."

They sat there in silence for a few moments before Bucky jumped up and turned to Steve. "How about this? We'll call the guys, get a bunch of beer, order pizza, and put on the Dodgers game. They're playing the Yankees tonight, so it should be a good one. Sound good?"

Steve smiled, "Yeah Buck, that sounds great."

Bucky beamed, "great, I'll send out the rally text and tell everyone to meet here at 7:30."

"Alright, I'm just going to take a small nap before everyone gets here," Steve said, moving to lay down flat on their couch. Just before he drifted off, he felt his phone buzz. He let out a small chuckle when he saw the text.

 _ **Gentlemen, assemble.**_


	9. Chapter 9

"What movie first?" Natasha yelled from the front of the TV.

"Fifty First Dates!" Darcy shouted.

"No, Titanic!" Pepper yelled back, all of the other girls groaned.

"We are NOT watching Titanic again, Pepper, not a chance," Maria countered.

"How about Pretty Woman?" Jane said excitedly, bouncing up and down.

"YES!" Wanda shouted, the other girls giving shouts and murmurs of approval as well.

"Pretty Woman it is!" Natasha shouted, grabbing the remote to find the movie on Netflix. As she searched for the movie, the other girls were chatting away.

"So, Jane, how are things between you and Thor?"

"They're good," Jane replied, blushing slightly at the mention of Thor. "He's really the sweetest. When I was in bed dying from my hangover, he brought pancakes and eggs over for Darcy and me. It was so sweet."

Darcy hummed in agreement, "And they were delicious! Maria, did you get the number of that guy that you spent all night talking to last night?"

Maria looked at Darcy with a confused look on her face, "what guy?" she asked before reaching behind her and grabbing her phone. She swiped on it for a minute before flipping it around to the girls to see. "Oh! You mean this one?!"

The rest of the girls hooted and hollered at her.

"What's his name?"

Pepper sighed, "His name is Sam, she hasn't stopped talking about him _all day._ "

Maria's mouth fell open and she grabbed one of the pillows next to her, throwing it at Pepper. "I have not been talking about him all day!" She protested, "you, on the other hand, haven't shut up about Tony since you woke up this morning."

The girls continued to argue and talk about the men in their lives, while Natasha sat there, thinking about Steve and how much she wished that she hadn't told him to go out with Sharon Carter. She was lost deep in thought when she heard Jane say her name.

"Huh?" Natasha said, shaking her head a bit.

"I said, what about you? Is there anyone you've had your eye on?"

"Yeah, like Steve Rogers maybe?" Darcy chimed in, her mouth full of popcorn.

Natasha was about to protest, when there was a knock on the door. "Pizza!" The girls yelled simultaneously.

"Guess you guys will never know," she quipped, pushing herself up off of the floor to answer the door. Secretly relieved at the distraction provided.

"Are you guys having a party on this floor or something?" The delivery guy asked as he gave Natasha the pizzas. "I just delivered like 10 pizzas to these guys down the hall."

Natasha laughed as she handed the pizzas back to Wanda and grabbed her money from the counter, "do you remember the room number?"

"Um, I think it was 582," he replied, counting through the money that Natasha handed him.

"That's our boys," Natasha said, shaking her head. She thanked the delivery guy before shutting the door. "Ladies," she announced to the room, everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at her, "it seems that we aren't the only ones that had this idea."

* * *

Down the hall, the boys were passing around the pizza boxes. Thor was standing in the kitchen throwing beers to Tony, who was then throwing them to the other guys positioned around the room.

"Gentlemen," Tony announced once everyone had settled down, "I love college." The boys all lifted their beers and pizza slices in agreeance. The boys sat around, talking about the baseball game, the girls, Tony's party the night before, and reminiscing about the times that they had in high school.

"To many more memories," Bucky said, lifting his beer and prompting the others to do the same.

"To many more memories," the guys echoed.

"So, Barnes, what's going on between you and Wanda," Tony asked.

"Oh no," Bucky replied, choking a little on the bite of pizza he'd just taken. "we're not talking about that. Did you guys know that Steve has a date this Friday?"

Steve put down his drink and lifted his arms up at Bucky as if to say "dude?"

"Steven, I can't believe you didn't tell us!" Tony feigned shock and covered his chest with his hand.

Steve rolled his eyes, "it's not a big deal."

"You and Natashlie finally making things official _is_ a big deal."

"It's not with- does everyone here think that Nat and I are a thing?"

The boys all looked down at their hands, no one saying a thing.

"Well we're not," Steve stated, "in fact, she's the one who encouraged me to ask Sharon out."

"Sharon?" Clint said after a moment. "Carter?"

"Yeah," Steve replied, confused, "do you know her?"

"Our families do business, she's-," Clint was cut off by a knock at the door.

"I've got it," Steve said, jumping over the back of the couch.

"Twenty bucks says it's Natasha," Tony whispered toward Pietro, Clint, and Thor.

"I'll take that," Pietro replied.

Steve opened up the door to all of the girls standing there, arms crossed. Natasha was standing in the middle, a smirk decorating her lips.

"You're throwing a party and you didn't even tell us, we're hurt Rogers, really," Natasha teased. The girls all put on their best pouting faces. Steve stepped aside, swinging the door open wider for the rest of the guys to see.

"No! Absolutely not! No girls allowed!" Tony yelled from the back of the room.

Natasha pushed out her bottom lip and looked at Steve, batting her eyelashes. "Oh, come on Steve, we want to join in on the fun." The other girls murmured their agreement behind her.

Steve looked back at the guys once more, everyone but Tony was smiling and already moving around to make room for the girls. "Steven, think with your head, and I don't mean the one in your pants!" Tony shouted once more. Steve shook his head.

"Come on in ladies, make yourselves at home." The girls all cheered, and Wanda grabbed their boxes of pizza from the side of the door as they shuffled into the room.

"We brought more pizza!" Wanda chirped.

"And you wanted to keep this doll standing outside," Bucky teased, grabbing Wanda's face and giving her a playful kiss on the cheek. She looked back at him and began to blush. The girls dispersed throughout the room, and despite his protests to the girls joining, Tony jumped right in to a conversation with Pepper.

Steve walked over to Natasha who was standing in the kitchen.

"Hey stranger."

"Hey yourself, Rogers. You're on my shit list," Natasha snapped. Steve was slightly taken aback, but when she looked up from her pizza, he could see the mischievous glint in her eye.

"Oh, am I?" He teased back.

"Definitely, you didn't even invite me to your party."

"Well, to be fair, you lacked the genitalia that was required for the invite. Unless, there's something you need to tell me?" Steve quirked an eyebrow.

Natasha fought back the urge to smile and grabbed her pizza, trying to push past him. "I didn't even want an invite," she said nonchalantly.

Steve moved and blocked her path, trapping her between his arms and the counter. She stared up at him for a moment, trying to ignore the lump rising in her throat. Steve leaned in toward her, his lips nearly brushing the shell of her ear.

"Yet you still showed up on my doorstep," he whispered an obvious gravel in his voice. Natasha felt a chill creep up her spine. She gave a slight push against his chest, bringing his face directly in front of her.

"Mmm, and you let me in." It wasn't lost on Steve how close they were to one another. How easy it would be for him to lean forward an inch or two and kiss her, allowing every thought, every feeling, every emotion that he had towards her come flooding out.

"My door's always open for a gorgeous gal like you," he replied, giving her a wink before taking a step back.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Rogers," Natasha said, though she couldn't stop the corners of her mouth from turning up. She felt her heart skip a beat, almost in relief, that he had taken a step back, almost. She wasn't sure that she could handle him being that close without doing anything about it for much longer.

"Can't blame a guy for trying." Steve shrugged his shoulders and brought his beer can up to his mouth. "But don't think that I didn't notice that you all happened to show up at my door at the same time, with several pizzas of your own." She opened her mouth to argue, but eventually closed it, unable to think of a comeback. "Mmhm, that's what I thought," he said, walking out of the kitchen. As he passed, she gave him a playful shove in the side and he let out a laugh.

* * *

People began heading home around midnight, most of the group still too tired from the night before to stay any later. Clint, Pietro, Darcy, Natasha, Steve, Bucky, and Wanda had sat around playing cards for another hour before Clint, Pietro, and Darcy decided to head back to their dorm rooms.

Steve and Natasha were sitting on the couch flipping through movies on Netflix, while Bucky and Wanda were sitting over in the corner whispering to one another, the occasional laugh coming from them.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Steve whispered to Natasha.

"Well currently," Natasha said, peeking over her shoulder, "I'm pretty sure that Bucky is trying to convince Wanda to ask me to stay here for the night." Steve too looked over his shoulder, noticing the slight pink gracing Wanda's cheeks. To him, however, it just looked like they were flirting back and forth.

"I don't know about that one Nat, I think they're just enjoying each other's company," he replied, turning back around to face the TV.

"Oh, really?" Natasha challenged, "then you won't mind making it interesting." She flashed him a devious smile. "If I'm right, you buy brunch tomorrow and I get to pick two more of your shirts to commandeer as my own."

Steve threw his head back and laughed, "and what about if I win?"

"Well what do you want, Rogers?" She asked, her voice low and sultry, leaning her body ever so slightly closer to him. Steve felt his mouth dry up.

"Well, I wouldn't mind a batch of those sugar cookies that you make."

"Just sugar cookies? You really don't know how to wager."

Steve was about to sass her back, but right then Wanda walked up, her face bright red.

"Hey Nat," she started, a sheepish grin forming on her face. "Would you mind staying here with Steve tonight?" Natasha turned and stuck her tongue out at Steve.

"I don't know," Natasha replied, pretending to be put out by the whole situation. "I guess if Steve's okay with it, I could be alright with it." Steve gave her a playful shove on the arm.

"Yes Wanda, she can stay here, she's just being a brat."

Wanda smiled, "thanks guys, we really appreciate it." Bucky came up at this time, grabbing her arm and eagerly pulling her behind him.

"We'll see you guys tomorrow!" Bucky shouted behind him.

"Wait!" Natasha yelled back. The two of them stopped in their tracks. "How late do I need to come back tomorrow? Steve and I have brunch plans."

Bucky looked at Wanda for a moment, then back at Natasha. "You should probably come get a change of clothes." Wanda slapped Bucky on the arm. "Ouch! I'm serious!"

Natasha shook her head and pushed herself up off the couch, "be right back, Steve. Pop some popcorn."

"Yes ma'am," Steve said with a fake salute. She rolled her eyes and walked out the door.


	10. Chapter 10

Oh boy, this might actually be my favorite chapter that I've written so far. It came out much better than I thought that it was going to when I originally came up with this scene. I hope that you guys like it as much as I do! Please favorite, follow, and review! :)

* * *

Natasha returned to Steve's room with a bag in her hands, her pillow tucked under her arm, and a 2-liter of Dr. Pepper. Before she even opened the door, she could smell the saltiness coming off of the butter for the popcorn. Her hands being full, she couldn't get the door open, so she gave it a swift kick once, hoping that Steve would hear it and come open it for her.

"Did you just kick my door?" Steve asked, clearly concerned as he pulled the door open.

Natasha shrugged, "I didn't have enough hands."

"You know, you could have asked for help," Steve replied, grabbing the bag out of her hands.

"I don't need a big strong man to come to my rescue, Rogers," Natasha joked.

"Oh, so you think I'm strong?" Steve gave her a smug smile before pulling his arms up above his head and flexing his muscles. Natasha laughed, though she couldn't help but notice the way that his shirt came up, exposing the dip in his hips from how low his jeans were sitting on them. _Stop staring,_ Natasha scolded herself.

"You wish," she stuck out her tongue and turned around to set the 2-liter on the counter. She tossed her pillow over to the couch before turning around to grab the bag out of Steve's hands. "I'm going to go change and you'd better finish making the popcorn or we're both going to pass out before this movie even gets started."

Steve chuckled, "alright, well you know where my room is," he gestured off towards the left. Natasha took her bag and walked into his room, stealing one last glance behind her to look at him before shutting the door behind her. As soon as the door was shut, she was greeted with the familiar scent of his cologne, already sticking to every surface within the room though he'd only been living there a couple of days. Natasha took a deep breath, relishing in the scent. It was her favorite. She couldn't explain why or how, but every time that she smelled his cologne, she instantly felt more relaxed and safe. She sighed, dropping her bag on the floor. She opened up her bag and dug through it, finding her sweatpants from dance team senior year (which were a bit too big on her) and the shirt of Steve's that she slept in the night before. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail and stood there for a moment longer before opening up the door.

Steve was still in the kitchen, pouring the freshly popped popcorn into a bowl. When he heard the door open, he looked up, meeting Natasha's eyes. God, he loved when she looked like this. For all of the things that she looked stunning in, the low back dress that she wore senior year to prom with him, her various dance costumes, her bikini, this was his favorite look. He loved seeing her in his t-shirts, and he loved when she had her hair pulled back so he could more easily admire the features of her face. He smiled.

"Alright, what's the movie tonight?" Steve asked, bringing the popcorn over to the couch.

"I was thinking action," Natasha replied, reaching over to grab a handful of popcorn.

"How about Die Hard?"

Natasha smiled, "Yippee-ki-yay motherfucker."

Steve shook his head, "you're ridiculous, you know that?"

"You love it," Natasha said, leaning against his side.

"Yeah I suppose," Steve replied, throwing his arm around her and giving her shoulder a small squeeze. He expected her to pull away after that, but when she didn't, he didn't question it. They stayed that way for about half of the movie, Steve relishing in the feeling of her beside him every time that she moved slightly to reach the popcorn bowl on his lap. He found himself having a hard time focusing on the movie, instead his mind was occupied with playing out scenarios between him and Natasha. _Stop it, Rogers,_ he thought to himself, _she's your friend._ He shook his head ever so slightly, as if he was trying to physically clear the thought from his brain.

Natasha tilted her head up to look at him, "you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He looked down at her, tempted to let himself get lost in her eyes. Once he made eye contact with her, he quickly looked back at the screen. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that she hadn't looked away from him, but he pretended to be engrossed in the film.

"Steve?" Natasha said in a small voice after a few minutes, so quietly that he almost wasn't sure that she had said anything at all.

"Yeah Nat," he replied, not allowing himself to look away from the TV.

"We're always going to be best friends, right?"

Steve immediately turned his head, an incredulous look on his face. She had tears brimming her eyes. "What? Are you crazy?" He pushed himself away from her a little bit so that he could turn his body to face her. He put his hands on either other of her shoulders, staring into her eyes. "Of course we're always going to be best friends, Nat." A single tear began to run down her cheek. "Hey, hey, hey, no. Don't do that." He moved his hands to her face, cupping her cheeks and using his thumbs to wipe away her tears, which were falling at a faster pace now. He pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her, and allowing her to bury her face into his chest. She began sobbing and he held her tightly, rubbing her back. Seeing her like this was breaking his heart.

He didn't know how long he had been sitting there, holding her to his chest while she cried, but he didn't care. He'd had a few tears fall, though he was able to stop them before they fell on Natasha's head, which absolutely would have made her feel worse for making him upset. When she finally started to calm down, she moved her head to lay her cheek against his chest. He ran his fingers through her hair, brushing the loose strands that had fallen from her ponytail out of her face.

"Nat," Steve whispered.

"Yes?" She replied, her voice hoarse from crying.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Promise?"

"With every fiber of my being." He squeezed her in his arms. She hummed.

"Thank you, Steve," she said after a moment.

They both sat in silence for a few minutes, Steve still running his hands through her hair.

"Nat?"

"Yeah Steve?"

"You don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but what made you ask that?" He said. She pulled her head off of his chest and looked at him for a moment.

"I don't know," she sighed. "I guess, I'm just scared. Everything's changing, and I don't want to lose you in all of it. I mean, we've been here two days and you're already going on a date with someone. I just don't want us to change."

"How did you know that Sharon and I were going out?" He asked, brows furrowed together.

"I overheard Tony talking about it to Pepper and a couple of the other girls."

"Oh," he replied, "I was going to tell you, I just hadn't gotten-"

"You don't have to explain yourself to me Steve. I'm happy for you, I just don't want to lose you along the way." She looked down at her hands, playing with them like she always does whenever something is troubling her.

Steve grabbed her hands in his, "you can't get rid of me that easily, Romanoff." She glanced up at him and saw the boyish grin on his face. She gave him a small smile back. "Come here," he said, holding his arms open for her. She scooted closer to him once more, laying her head against his chest. He kicked his legs out around her and leaned his back against the armrest. He took a deep breath, taking in the melon scent of her shampoo, allowing it to wash over him before closing his eyes.

* * *

Steve woke up a couple hours later to the title screen from the movie playing on repeat. He almost didn't realize Natasha was still laying on his chest and might have tried to get up if it hadn't been for the small snoring sounds that she was making. He looked down at her, unable to help the smile that spread across his face. Steve could feel that his leg had gone to sleep but didn't want to wake her up. Her ponytail had pretty much come out of her hair, so he pulled it the rest of the way out before running his fingers through it and smoothing it down out of her face. He drifted off again for a while longer before he decided that he should move her from the couch.

"Nat," he whispered, not really wanting to wake her up. She mumbled but pushed her face further into his chest. "Nat," he said again, chuckling a little bit at her insistence on staying where she was. He began to slide his body out from under her, she groaned, holding on to his shirt. "Come here," he whispered gently. He got his body out from underneath her, scooping her up in his arms bridal style, and pulling her safely against his chest. He carried her into his room, laying her down on his bed.

"Steve," she mumbled.

"Yeah, Nat?"

"I can sleep on the couch, this is your bed, you should sleep here."

He ran his hand along her cheek and she hummed, a smile forming on her lips. "It's okay Nat, I'll sleep out there. I didn't grab your pillow, but you can use mine. I'll just use yours," he replied.

She stuck out her bottom lip, her eyes still closed. "No, Steeviiee," she whined, her voice laced with her own drowsiness.

"Naaatttyyyy," he mocked back as he stood, walking over to leave the room. "I'll see you in the morning."

"No, stay," she said, sounding more awake than before. He turned around and she had propped herself up on her elbows, staring back at him, her emerald eyes shining, even in the dim lighting from his room.

"Nat, I-"

"Please."

Steve took in a big breath, taking an apprehensive step forward, "I don't know Nat, are you sure?"

She nodded without hesitation, "I don't want to be alone, and I don't want you to leave." Steve looked out his bedroom door and back at the couch. He should just say that he'll see her tomorrow, but he really did want to continue holding her. He felt guilty, like he was using her fear to soothe the ache that he was feeling towards her, not knowing that she wanted, _needed_ , this as much as he did. "Just as friends, Steve. It's hardly the first time that we've slept in the same bed," the familiar teasing tone coming back to her voice. He chuckled, thinking back to when they would have sleepovers in elementary school. "Please don't leave me alone," she said once more when he didn't answer her.

Steve sighed, "alright, give me a second," he replied. He walked out into the living room to turn off the TV and the lights, as well as to grab Natasha's pillow. _You still have time to stop this,_ he thought to himself before immediately following that thought with, _but I don't want to._ He made sure that everything was locked up before walking back into his room and shutting the door behind him. Natasha had commandeered his pillow and pushed herself on her side up against the wall.

"We're going to have to get nice and cozy, Rogers," Natasha said as Steve began to climb into bed.

"Oh no, whatever will I do," he replied sarcastically. He laid on his back and held his left arm away from his body, allowing Natasha to cuddle up against his chest. She wrapped her leg around his and placed her hand just below her head on his upper abdomen. He pulled her as close as he could.

She shifted for a moment before humming contently, "this is pretty good." He laughed a bit, feeling the tension in his body melt away with her cuddled up against him.

"Happy to oblige."

"Goodnight, Steve," Natasha whispered, falling back into her sleep.

"Goodnight, Nat," Steve said back, his own drowsiness sweeping him off into a blissful sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

The next morning, Natasha was the first to wake up. Her head was still on Steve's chest, his left arm was wrapped protectively around her, her left hand was intertwined with his right, laying across his stomach, and his head was leaned up against hers. She couldn't help the smile that spread across her face, nor could she help the fact that she had butterflies in her stomach. She moved her head slightly, careful not to wake Steve up, so that she could better see his sleeping form. The room was mostly dark thanks to Steve's blackout curtains, but a small ray of sun was peeking through a gap between them. The ray of light fell right on his face, highlighting his strong jaw. She watched as his breath caused a small strand of hair on his head to float up and down. God he was so handsome. _When did that happen?_ She thought back to the skinny boy that she had known when they were children. The boy that was always sick. The one who couldn't walk away from a fight, no matter how badly he got his ass kicked. The boy who despised bullies and did everything that he could to make sure that no one had to deal with them, especially not Natasha.

The man lying beside her was so physically different from the one she had known years ago, but the kind-hearted, caring, loving, sometimes extremely stubborn Steve was always there. She remembered when they started 6th grade together. They had started at a new school and the older boys there continually picked on her for her red hair, for her Russian parentage, and for being a ballerina. She vented to Steve about it one day, mentioning how it was non-stop every time that she went through the line at lunch. The next day, Steve appeared at the door to her class before it was time to go to lunch. She was confused because normally she just met him at their lunch table, since his class was on the other side of the school, she usually got there before him. She just thought that his teacher must've let them leave a few minutes early for lunch, but really Steve had pretended to be sick in order to make sure that Natasha didn't have to face her bullies alone. That day, they teased Natasha about being an orphan. They made jokes about how her father, Nick, probably didn't even love her, he only pitied her. Steve told them to leave her alone, but they persisted. When they wouldn't stop, Steve told them that he was going to make them stop. All 80 pounds of pure bone seething with fury over the comments that they had made. The bullies attacked him, giving him a bloody, broken nose, a fat lip, and a nice shiner. Natasha will never forget the words that he said after they broke his nose. "I can do this all day." She had no doubt that he would've too, had it not been for Bucky stepping in and helping out. Her bullies ended up getting suspended and Natasha had to go with Steve to the principal's office to explain what happened before they went to the nurse. When Natasha asked Steve why he did that, he just shrugged and said, "I really hate bullies and you're my best friend. I couldn't let them say those things about you."

Steve sighed in his sleep, pulling Natasha from her thoughts. He moved slightly before turning over on his side, his face just inches away from hers. He threw his free arm over her side and pulled her closer. She couldn't resist bringing her hand up to his face and resting it on his cheek. She laid there, eyes closed, relishing in his touch for a few moments before moving her hand to the nape of his neck, absent mindedly playing with the hair on the back of his head as she drifted back into her thoughts.

She remembered their senior prom. The previous year, she had gone with Matt Murdock and he had gone with Peggy Carter, but with both of them being single, he decided to ask her to be his date. Admittedly, they had both been asked by others, but neither one of them wanted to go with someone else. They just wanted to spend the night together, having fun, not dealing with any of the drama of going with a significant other. He had danced with her the whole night, not just to the slow dances, either. When Murdock had taken her, he refused to dance to anything other than slow songs, since he thought that dancing like an idiot was lame. Steve, on the other hand, loved dancing like he didn't have a care in the world with her, and if he didn't enjoy it, he did a really good job acting like he did. She wasn't sure that she had ever had that much fun in her life. After prom was over and everyone was getting ready to change to go to Tony's to continue partying, Steve surprised her (and everyone else) by insisting that they go and get ice cream. He had heard such good things about this place, that it had the best chocolate ice cream, and he knew that Natasha _loves_ chocolate ice cream, so he insisted that they all go there before they did anything else. It was one of the reasons she loved the place so much.

Steve began to stir beside her. He opened his eyes to see her red hair, glowing like fire in beam of sunshine coming through the break in the curtains. He laid there for a moment thinking about the way his hand fit along the curve of her hip, about how beautiful she looked in the morning, and just enjoying the feeling of having her in his arms. Steve pulled his hand from where it was draped over her hip and brought it up to her face, brushing the hair away. Natasha allowed for her eyes to flutter open, immediately meeting the warm gaze of his ocean blue eyes.

"Hey," he whispered, a smile forming on his face.

"Hey yourself," she replied, her voice slightly scratchy from all the crying of the night before.

"I didn't mean to wake you, your hair was just in your face," Steve blushed a little bit, realizing how it must've looked to her.

"You didn't wake me, I was already kind of awake," Natasha replied sincerely. "Thank you for staying with me last night, and for, well, being so understanding about my meltdown."

"Nat, you don't have to apologize. Honestly, I'm scared of the same things, but like I promised last night, I'm not going anywhere."

"You're too good of a man Steven Grant Rogers." He flashed her a bright smile. They both laid there in silence for a while, neither one moving away from the other. "What time is it?" Natasha finally broke the silence.

"Ummm," Steve leaned back, reaching for his phone on his nightstand. "Oh shit, it's noon."

Natasha laughed, "well, so much for brunch."

"We could still go get lunch though," Steve replied, "only if you want though." Natasha shoved him a little bit, nearly pushing him off of the tiny bed.

"I'll never say no to food, Rogers, you know that. Can I use your shower though before we go? I feel really gross."

"Of course!" He replied, "I'll grab you a towel." Steve rolled out of the bed and walked over to his closet. As he reached into the closet, he felt Natasha's slender arms wrap around him in a tight hug. He chuckled grabbing the towel and spinning around in her arms to hug her back.

"Thank you again," Natasha mumbled into his chest.

Steve leaned down and kissed the top of her head, "go take your shower, Nat." She pulled away from him, smirking at him as she grabbed the towel out of his hand and walked off to the bathroom.

* * *

Steve sat down on the couch once he was ready while Natasha was in the shower. _Maybe I should just cancel my date with Sharon_ , he thought to himself. He knew that Natasha was afraid that they were going to drift apart, and he wanted to do everything that he could to show her that he wasn't going anywhere. Plus, he wasn't even sure that he was going to like Sharon. She seemed nice enough, but he didn't really know her aside from a few conversations with her when he was dating Peggy and the couple of conversations that they had over the past couple days.

"Hey, I'm done," Natasha said, walking out of the bathroom. "You can use it now if you need to." She was wrapped up in her towel and began walking into Steve's room to get dressed.

"Do you want me to cancel my date with Sharon?" Steve blurted out.

"Do I-what?" Natasha asked.

"Do you want me to cancel my date with Sharon?" Steve repeated calmly. "If you want me to cancel with her, I will."

Natasha felt her throat tighten up. She could tell him. He was offering to cancel for her. She could tell him how she felt, she could see how he felt, it was her chance.

"No," she smiled, shaking her head. "No, you're fine. Go have fun with her. It's what, Friday night? I'll see you Saturday, it's alright. I'm going to go change, I'll be right back." She hurried into his room and shut the door behind her. _Really Romanoff? You had a chance. Everything that happens now is your fault._

Natasha finished getting ready and took a deep breath before putting on a big smile and walking out to where Steve was sitting in the living room. "Ready?"


	12. Chapter 12

Everything after lunch that day seemed to fly by. As did the next few days. Classes had started, so Natasha didn't get to see Steve quite as often, but they still met up for lunch and dinner, spending most of the time catching each other up on what happened that day.

It was Wednesday afternoon, Natasha had just left lunch with Steve and was walking to her next class. It was a geography class, which she didn't want to take, but the school required it. By the time that she found the right building, most of the seats had already been taken. She looked around the lecture hall and saw that there was a seat in the 3rd row. When she sat down, the guy next to her tried to start a conversation with her.

"Hey," he said.

Natasha turned and looked at him, giving him a small smile, "hi," she replied. She turned back to the front of the room, eager for the class to start.

"What's your name?" the guy asked.

Natasha tried to hide her annoyance. Didn't this guy realize that she didn't want to talk? "Natasha."

"Natasha, that's a beautiful name. A beautiful name for a stunning girl," the guy said. Natasha turned to face him again, quirking an eyebrow. Was he seriously trying to flirt with her? Here? Now? He reached out a hand to her, "I'm Brock Rumlow." Natasha glanced down at his outstretched hand before reluctantly reaching out to shake it.

"Nice to meet you Brock."

"So, are you a freshman?" He asked.

"Yeah," Natasha replied.

"Cool, I'm a sophomore. I was going to take this class last year, but it was full by the time that I got around to enrolling," Brock explained. Natasha just hummed in understanding. They sat in silence for a few moments and Natasha was relieved that he was leaving her alone. "What are you studying, Natasha?"

 _So much for that,_ Natasha sighed internally. "Dance with a minor in theatre performance."

"Wow, that's awesome. I'm just a boring ol' business major, but I like it, so that's what matters."

The professor walked in the room and Natasha was relieved. Once the lecture had started, Brock seemed to be focused on what was happening. Scribbling down notes about the syllabus, just like Natasha. The class was about 10 minutes in when Natasha felt something brush up against her right arm. Brock had slid over a piece of paper to her. _Passing notes, really?_ She thought to herself. She reluctantly grabbed the note and opened it up. It took everything that she had not to crack up when she saw what he had written about the professor. She quickly scribbled something down and wrote back. They continued this pattern throughout the lecture, alternating between writing notes about the lecture and writing notes to one another. When the class ended, Natasha began to gather her things.

"I'll see you in class Friday, Natasha," Brock said, flashing her a dazzling smile.

She couldn't help but smile back, "see you Friday, Brock."

That night at dinner, Steve asked her about her classes. She mentioned what had happened with Brock. Steve felt a slight pang of jealousy before pushing it aside. He was happy that she had made a new friend, especially someone that was in one of her classes.

* * *

When it came time for her geography lecture on Friday, Natasha found that she was actually looking forward to it. When she walked in the room, she looked around for a moment before she saw Brock waving at her. He moved his backpack out of the seat to his left and patted it. She giggled a little bit.

"Hey," she said when she sat down.

"Hey, how are you?" Brock replied.

"I'm doing alright. This first week has kicked my ass though."

"College will definitely do that to you," Brock laughed. He was quiet while Natasha pulled her stuff out of her bag before saying, "hey, so, I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go to dinner with me tonight?"

Natasha stopped what she was doing and looked at him, "dinner? Like a date?"

"Only a date if you want it to be, I just think you're really cool and I'd really like to get to know you better."

Natasha stared at him for a moment before nodding her head, "okay. Yeah, I'll go to dinner with you."

Brock smiled, "really? Awesome! Wait, dinner as a date or dinner as friends? I just don't want to get the wrong idea."

Natasha smirked at him, "we'll just have to see how it goes, won't we?"

"I can live with that," he replied, the smile not fading from his face.

Before the class ended, they exchanged numbers and Natasha ran off to meet Steve for coffee before she had to go back to her dorm to get ready. Brock would be there to pick her up at 7.

"Hey," Natasha greeted, slightly out of breath from jogging over to the coffee shop.

Steve looked up from his sketchbook and gave her a big smile, "hey! I already ordered our stuff, so it should be here soon."

"Perfect," Natasha replied. She slid into the booth across from him. "How was class?"

"It was good, we were talking about different shading techniques. Pretty basic stuff, but I still feel like I learned quite a bit. How about you?"

"It was fine." Natasha thought about telling Steve about her date with Brock, but she decided not to bring it up for the time being. She wasn't even sure that it was going to end up being a date. They continued chatting for a while a sipping on their coffee.

"Hey Nat," Steve said after a brief pause.

"Hmm?"

"Are you sure you don't want me to cancel my date with Sharon tonight? It's okay if you do. I'll call her and tell her that I can't make it and you and I can go do something." Steve secretly hoped that she would ask him to cancel it. Natasha looked up from her notebook and met his stare.

"Actually," she started, "it's okay, Steve. Really. I have plans tonight, so you should go and have fun."

"You have plans tonight?" He asked.

"Um, yeah." Natasha began fidgeting with her hands. "You know that guy Brock that I told you about the other day? The one in my geography class?" How could Steve forget, of course he remembered. "Well he asked me to go out with him, so we're going to grab dinner tonight." Steve could feel his heart shatter into a billion pieces. There it was, the confirmation to everything that he had wanted to know. She wanted him to go on a date with someone else. She herself was going on a date with someone else. There was no way that she had feelings for him. He felt so stupid for ever thinking that she did.

"Wow, that's – awesome, Nat. I'm really happy for you," Steve replied, trying to cover the pain in his voice. "I'm sure you guys will have fun."

"Yeah," Natasha said. "But thank you for caring so much about me." She reached across the table and placed her hand on his arm. He was torn between ripping his arm away from her touch or grabbing it so he could pull her in for a kiss. He decided not to do either, instead taking his free hand and placing it over hers.

"Always." Steve let out a deep breath, "well then, I guess we should get back to the dorms, so you have time to get ready for your date and I have time to get ready for – my – date." He trailed off at the end.

"Alright," Natasha replied, putting away her supplies. As they left, Natasha wrapped her arm around his, "I'm happy for us, Steve." She looked up at him, giving him a small smile.

He returned it half-heartedly, "yeah, me too."


	13. Chapter 13

Natasha looked at herself in the mirror. She took a deep breath in and smoothed her dress down. She still had about 30 minutes before Brock was supposed to pick her up. She sighed and walked over to her jewelry box that was sitting on top of her dresser. She opened it up, grabbing a necklace with a small diamond charm in the shape of a flower on it. Natasha was about to try to put it on when she heard her phone ding.

 _ **Help.**_ It was from Steve.

 _ **What's wrong?**_ She put the necklace off to the side, instantly worried. It was another minute before her phone dinged again.

 _ **Open your door.**_

Natasha laughed, tossing her phone back on her bed. When she opened the door, Steve was standing there in a pair of khakis and a blue plaid button up shirt that was rolled up to his elbows. He smiled at her sheepishly, bringing a black tie out from behind his back and holding it out towards her.

"I've never been good at these things," he said. Natasha couldn't help the smile that spread across her face.

"There's a price for help, Rogers," she replied, raising an eyebrow, folding her arms, and leaning against the door.

He braced an arm against the doorframe and leaned in towards her, "and that is?"

"You also have to help me with something."

"I suppose that's a fair trade," he responded after pretending to think it over for a moment. She smiled and stepped out of the way, so he could enter the apartment. "You're the best, Nat," he said as she took the tie out of his hand.

"You'd better not forget it," she replied, stopping what she was doing for a moment to look up at him and wink.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he laughed. They were silent for a moment while Natasha continued to work on the tie before Steve spoke again, "you look really beautiful by the way. That color looks great on you." He looked at her navy-blue dress and the way that it looked against her pale skin. It was a simple dress, but if anything, that just made her stand out even more in it.

"Thank you," she said, a slight blush creeping up on her cheeks. "You look really nice, too."

"Thanks."

She pulled the tie through the loop, "there," she smiled up at him, "all done."

"You're a life saver, Nat," Steve praised.

She waved her hand, "yeah, yeah, yeah. Now you get to help me." She walked into her room and grabbed the necklace. "The clasp on this is kind of hard and I can't put it on by myself, can you help?" Steve grabbed the necklace out of her hand, looking at the little flower on it.

"Hey, I gave you this," he said, unable to help the way that his lips turned up at the corner.

"You did and it's my favorite necklace," she said, turning around and pulling her hair up so he could put the necklace on her.

"I got this for you sophomore year. You were the lead in _Swan Lake_. I wanted to get you something to give you after the show. My mom had taken me with her to run errands and we stopped by the jewelry store. I saw it there and I begged her to let me get it for you. She was going to buy it for me to give it to you, but I really wanted to buy it for you, so I gathered up that money from my allowance and bought it for you. You were amazing in the show, but I couldn't wait for it to be over so that I could give this to you. My mom said I was insufferable with how impatient I was," he chuckled at the memory as he closed the clasp and let it hang on her neck.

As soon as it was clasped, Natasha spun around to face Steve, "you never told me that you bought this with your own money."

"It wasn't really an important detail. What was important was that you knew how proud of you I was. How proud of you I am."

"Steve!" Natasha squealed, "we were in high school! I always assumed that your parents bought this for me and you just gave it to me. You shouldn't have done that, it had to have been so expensive."

He shrugged, "it was worth it, especially after I saw your face when you opened it." Her hand drifted up to it, playing with the small charm on the end of the necklace.

"Thank you," she practically whispered. She cleared her throat, "I'm going to tell you something and you don't get to make fun of me for it, okay?"

Steve laughed, "okay?"

She held her hand up to him, all of her fingers curled inward except her pinky. "Promise?"

"Really Nat? A pinky promise? What are we, eight?" Steve asked raising an eyebrow up at her. She rolled her eyes at him.

"Just do it, Steve."

"Okay," he replied, amusement still all over his face. He grabbed her pinky, "I promise."

"Okay, well, this is my favorite necklace, but it's also the necklace that I wear whenever I'm feeling nervous or scared or just want to feel safe," she looked up from the floor to meet his eyes, "because it reminds me of you."

Steve didn't know what to say, he just stood there, staring back into her shining emerald eyes. He didn't know that the necklace had meant so much to her. He knew that she liked it, he saw her wear it all the time, less so recently, but he understood she had other jewelry. However, he had no idea that it meant that much to her.

"Nat, I-" Steve was cut off by a knock on the door.

"Shit," Natasha said, "that's probably Brock. I've gotta go." She ran into her room and grabbed her purse. She came back out into the living room, stepped up on her tip-toes and kissed the side of Steve's cheek, "thank you again for this." She reached down and put her hand on the necklace.

"Of course," Steve replied, his mouth going dry. He followed Natasha over to the door.

"Hey, sorry," Natasha said once she had the door open.

"Hey, wow, you look fantastic," Brock replied, flashing her a bright smile. He looked at her for a moment before noticing Steve standing behind her. Natasha noticed his eyes shift towards Steve.

"Oh, Brock this is Steve, he's my best friend. Steve, this is Brock, the one from my geography class."

"Hey man," Brock said, reaching his hand out to shake Steve's. "Nice to meet you."

"Hey, yeah, likewise. Well, um, I'd better get going, I've got to go pick Sharon up. Thanks again Nat," Steve said, hastily squeezing out of the door past Natasha and Brock.

"Alright, I can't wait to hear all about it!" Natasha yelled down the hall as Steve walked off. Steve could feel his blood burning over thinking about leaving her with Brock, but there was nothing that he could do.

As he walked off he heard Brock say, "so, you've talked about me," followed by Natasha giggling.


	14. Chapter 14

As Steve pulled up in front of Sharon's dorm, he felt sick to his stomach. Why was he doing this? He saw Sharon standing there in a light pink sundress with sandals on, she gave him a big smile and a wave as she approached his car.

"Hey, it's so good to see you," she said as she slid into the passenger seat.

"Hey, it's good to see you, too," Steve replied, giving her a warm smile.

"So, what sounds good for dinner?" Sharon asked as she turned to face him.

"There's this little Italian place on the edge of the city that's really good. They've got a little bit of everything."

"Sounds wonderful!" Sharon replied, reaching for her buckle.

They spent the entire car ride talking with one another about school, their majors, hobbies, the typical things that you would talk about on a first date. Steve could feel himself beginning to relax as time went on. Sharon was pleasant to talk to, she was there studying journalism and was going to be starting a job writing for the school newspaper in the next month. When they got to the restaurant, Steve walked around and opened up her door for her.

"What a gentleman," Sharon said with a smile. Steve could feel himself blush.

* * *

"I'm really glad that you texted me," Sharon laughed as they returned from dinner. "I was afraid that you wouldn't."

Steve smiled at her, "why did you think I wouldn't?"

"I don't know. I guess I was just worried that you would think I was being too forward, and I had thought that you and Natasha were together."

"Oh, it's not a big deal. She was actually the one who encouraged me to ask you out," Steve replied.

"Really?"

"Yeah, she actually was also the one that noticed that you had written on the receipt, I probably wouldn't have noticed otherwise."

"Well," Sharon said, giving him a sweet smile, "I guess I'll have to thank her then."

"I'll have to, too," Steve added, "I've had a really good time tonight."

"I did, too," Sharon responded.

They pulled up in front of her dorm and she looked over at him. "Well, this is me. Thanks again for a great time tonight," she leaned over towards him and kissed him. Steve was surprised at first but didn't pull away. When the kiss ended, Steve gave her a smile and she exited the car, looking over her shoulder to give him a small wave once more before disappearing into the building.

* * *

Steve was still thinking about Sharon kissing him when he walked into his dorm. He had just entered the elevator to go up to his floor when he heard a very familiar voice yell, "hold the door!" Steve threw out his arm to stop the door from shutting. A few seconds later, Natasha came running into the elevator.

"Hey," Steve chuckled, "date so bad you had to run to get away from him?" Natasha gave him a small shove.

"No, dork. I saw you walking in and wanted to catch up to you," Natasha replied, giving him a smile.

"How sweet," Steve ribbed.

"Oh hush, how'd your date with Sharon go?"

"Surprisingly," Steve started, "really well."

"That's great!" Natasha replied, though internally she felt like someone had knocked the wind out her and not just because she was out of breath from running to catch up with him. "So, are you going to see her again?"

"I think so. She's really easy to talk to and really sweet," Steve shuffled his feet, "How was your date?" He asked, though he wasn't sure that he really wanted to know.

"It was nice. Brock's really nice."

"Well that's good, he better be. The second he stops treating you right he has to deal with me. I'll be damned if I let him treat you like Murdock treated you," Steve bristled with anger just at the thought of how Murdock had treated her. Natasha had to admit that seeing him get worked up like that was kind of hot. She wasn't the type to need someone to come to her rescue, in fact, she'd gotten on to Steve for stepping to her defense too quickly before, but she did love the way that it felt to know that he was always there to defend her felt.

"Thanks Steve," Natasha replied.

"Of course, I can't have someone not treating my best girl right." He threw an arm around her giving her shoulder a small squeeze.

When the door to the elevator opened, they both stepped out. "I'll see you tomorrow for brunch then?" Natasha asked, starting down the hall to her room.

"Absolutely. Be there at 10," Steve replied.

"Good. Goodnight, Steve."

"Goodnight, Nat. Sleep well."


	15. Chapter 15

Three months had passed since Steve went on his first date with Sharon and Natasha had gone on her first date with Brock. Things were going well between Steve and Sharon. He was enjoying the time that he got to spend with her and they had lots of fun doing things together. Admittedly, he hadn't been able to spend that much time with Natasha since things had picked up with Sharon, but it wasn't just his fault. It seemed like every time that Natasha asked to hang out, Steve already had plans with Sharon, and every time that Steve asked to hang out, Natasha had plans with Brock. It wasn't that they never saw each other, but it was hard going from seeing her almost every day to only once a week (if he was lucky).

Steve had just gotten back from his movie date with Sharon when he got a text from Natasha.

 ** _I miss you._** Steve frowned slightly before typing back.

 _ **I miss you too.**_ He sighed. He did miss her. He missed playing air guitar and jumping on the couch with her. He missed their typical after-party routine of watching movies together and eating popcorn. He also missed going to brunch with her, which was something that they hadn't done since the day after he went on his first date with Sharon.

 _ **How've you been?**_ Natasha said after a minute.

 _ **I've been good. How about you?**_ He replied immediately. He couldn't shake the odd feeling that he got from their conversation. It sounded more like they were acquaintances rather than best friends. He never had to ask her how she'd been before he got together with Sharon. He already knew the answer because he talked to her every day.

 _ **I've been alright. Just tired between school and rehearsal and Brock.**_ Steve couldn't help the slight cringe that he gave when reading Brock's name in her message.

 _ **I totally understand. School's kicking my butt and it seems like Sharon and I are always going somewhere to do something.**_ He walked over to the couch and sat down. He didn't turn on the TV or start scrolling through his phone though, he didn't want to miss the messages from Natasha. This was the longest conversation that they'd managed to have in the past week and a half. He had just laid his head back on the couch when his phone dinged.

 _ **Would you want to grab brunch tomorrow?**_ Natasha asked. Steve really wanted to, but he'd already made plans with Sharon to go to the art museum that day.

 _ **Can't. I have plans with Sharon. Could we go Sunday ?**_ He was hopeful that she would say yes, but he had a nagging feeling that she had something going on.

 _ **Can't. Brock and I have plans that day.**_ Steve sighed.

 _ **Damn. Well, how about we grab dinner sometime this week?**_

 _ **I would, but I'll be at rehearsal until 9 every night. We're practicing late with the show coming up soon. You're still coming, right?**_ He felt a pang of guilt. Had he really been spending so much time away from her that she was questioning her importance in her life?

 _ **Wouldn't miss it for the world, Nat. It's been on my calendar since you got the part. I promise I'll be there, front and center, just like always (:**_

 _ **Good (: I'm counting on it. Let me know if something frees up in your schedule and I'll do the same, alright?**_ He frowned again. How had they become those friends? The ones that never had enough time for one another. Steve couldn't help but blame himself. He _had_ been spending a lot of time with Sharon, but things were going really well between them. He's even been thinking about telling her that he loves her, he's just been trying to find the right time to do it.

 _ **Of course I will. I really do miss you, Nat.**_

 _ **I miss you too, Steve. I'll talk to you more later.**_

Steve sat his phone down on the couch. He couldn't help the anger that was bubbling in his stomach. He promised her that he wasn't going anywhere, but here he was, unable to make enough time to spend with her. em _I'm going to be better about this/em,_ he promised himself. _She needs to know that I'm here for her and I care about her._ Steve leaned his head back on the couch, this head swimming with thoughts about Natasha and Sharon. They were both important to him, so he was going to have to figure out a way to balance the both of them in his life. He sat there for a few minutes longer before getting up and heading into his room. Sharon was going to be there at 9 so that they could go to the museum, so it was best if he got some rest.

* * *

The next morning, Steve got up and started getting dressed. It was only 8:30 when Sharon knocked on his door.

"Hey hot stuff," Sharon flirted when he opened the door.

"Hey cutie," he replied, leaning in to give her a kiss. She stretched out on her tiptoes to meet his lips.

"Sorry, I'm early," she said, "I woke up really early and I couldn't stand to hang around my room any longer. I figured I can just hang out here until you're ready to go." She walked into the room and tossed her purse on the couch.

"Yeah of course, I'm pretty close to being ready, I've just got a couple more things to do. Make yourself comfortable," Steve replied, walking into the bathroom and shutting the door.

Sharon hummed and looked around the room. It wasn't as clean as she would've liked it, but for two boys, it really wasn't that bad. She walked over to the couch and plopped herself down. She was about to pull out her phone to upload a new selfie to _Instagram_ when she saw Steve's phone lying there. _Hello,_ she thought to herself, _hmmm, what do we have here?_ She briefly looked over her shoulder to confirm that the bathroom door was shut before she leaned over to pick up the phone. It took her a couple of tries, but she was able to figure out his passcode after a minute (it was his birthday).

When she opened up the phone, she immediately went into his messages and began scrolling through. The very first message at the top was from Natasha. _**I miss you too. I'll talk to you more later.**_ Sharon was fuming. She began scrolling back through their messages as far as she could go. The oldest set of messages that were there were from the night of that first party.

 _ **Over by the DJ. Bring me something fruity with vodka. (;**_

 _ **Oh, you're making demands now? What's in it for me? :P**_

 _ **Bring it and you'll see. (;**_

Sharon could feel her blood boiling. _Oh no,_ she thought, _we can't have this. I'm going to put an end to this right now. He's not going to be spending any more time with Natasha. Not while I'm around,_ she resolved to herself. She heard the bathroom door beginning to open and quickly exited out of the app, locking it, and grabbing her phone before Steve walked out.

"Alright babe, I think I'm all set. Are you ready to go?" He asked.

Sharon plastered a huge fake smile across her face, "absolutely!" She walked over to him and pulled him down for a heated kiss. "I'm so glad that you're all mine," she whispered as she pulled away from him.

"Mmm, me too," Steve replied.

 _He's going to see just how all mine he is._


	16. Chapter 16

A couple weeks had gone by since Sharon had seen the texts from Natasha. Steve had resolved to himself that he was going to make more time to spend with Natasha, keeping Saturdays open so that he could go to brunch with her and have time to hang out. Sharon was less than thrilled about this. She constantly tried to make plans with Steve on Saturdays, hoping that he would forget, and she could guilt him into keeping his plans with her, but he was persistent, never once forgetting that he had promised himself to keep that day reserved just for Natasha.

It was Friday evening and Steve was finishing getting ready for his date with Sharon. She had gotten there a few minutes earlier and was sitting on the couch, flipping through channels on his TV, when there was a knock on the door.

"I've got it Stevie!" Sharon yelled, hopping up from the couch. She opened the door to see Natasha standing there, her face red and still wet with tears from crying. Sharon plastered a fake smile on her face, "Oh hi, can I help you?"

"Oh," Natasha replied, wiping the tears from her face, "I'm sorry, I was just… well, I just needed to talk to Steve."

"Mmm," Sharon hummed, "well he's kind of busy at the moment and we're getting ready to leave to go to the movies, so I think you're just going to have to wait until tomorrow to talk to him." She widened her fake smile, trying to get Natasha to leave.

"Oh, right," Natasha whispered, "um, well, I guess I'll just go then. Will you just tell him I stopped by?"

Sharon almost rolled her eyes, "absolutely! I'll let him know."

Natasha turned to walk away, "Thanks Sharon."

"Hey Shar, who's at the door?" Steve said as he walked out of his room. He saw Natasha standing there, getting ready to leave, as Sharon began to close the door. He could tell that something wasn't right with Natasha, her body language didn't exude confidence like normal, and her face seemed slightly red. "Nat, wait!" Steve yelled, running into the hallway after her. Natasha stopped and turned around to face him. He could clearly see that she had been crying and her eyes were brimming with tears again, threatening to overflow at any moment. "Hey, what's wrong?"

As soon as Steve asked Natasha what was wrong, she began sobbing. Steve walked forward and wrapped his arms around her, holding her to his chest while she cried. He began slowly running his hand through her hair, smoothing it down, and shushing her to calm her. They stood there like that for a few minutes, Sharon stood at the door for the first two, her blood boiling. _Dammit,_ she thought. _This isn't okay. I've got to get rid of her._ She turned and walked back into the room, throwing herself on the couch, pouting and planning her next course of action.

Once Natasha had calmed down some, Steve wrapped his arm around her and led her into the apartment. He walked her into his room, telling her that he would be right back, he just needed to talk to Sharon really quick. He shut the door to his room and walked over to where Sharon was.

"Hey, so I don't know what's going on with Nat, but I really think that I need to be here for her right now," Steve said, shoving his hands in his pocket.

"So, you're going to ask her what's going on and after she tells you, we're going to leave for our date?" Sharon replied.

"No, Shar. I really need to be here for her, so I'm going to have to cancel our date tonight. I'm sorry." Sharon tried not to let her annoyance show on her face.

"Well then, I guess we can move our date to tomorrow instead," she said, standing up.

"Tomorrow's Saturday Sharon, Natasha and I have brunch plans and then we're probably going to get the gang together for a bad movie night," Steve replied, getting irritated.

"Steve, we've had these plans for a week and now you're canceling on me because Natasha showed up at your door with a sob story and you won't even reschedule our date? She's taking my day, so it's only fair that I take hers," Sharon huffed.

"I really can't believe that you're upset with me right now. I see you almost every day, I make plans with you all the time, we're constantly doing stuff together. I want one day where I can see my best friend and when she needs me, I need to be there for her. If you can't understand that, then I think that it's best for you to go and I think it's best for us to break-up."

Sharon's mouth dropped open. Did he just try to break up with her? _Her_. She's Sharon Carter. She doesn't get broken up with.

"No, Steve. I don't think that's going to work," she replied, standing up in front of him. "I think you need to reconsider your actions before they turn out badly for you." She ran her hand up his arm before her shrugged it off of him.

"Get. Out." Steve growled. "It's over."

Sharon scoffed, turning behind her to grab her purse. "You're making a bad decision, Steve. You'll regret it, so will she." She started to walk away when Steve grabbed her arm. _Good boy,_ she thought to herself. _You know what's good for you._

Steve stepped close to her, his mouth near her ear, his hand never leaving her arm. "If you em _ever/em_ threaten Natasha again, I'll make you wish you'd never met me. I don't give a fuck who your family is," Steve replied, his voice dangerously low. He released her arm and walked over to the door, opening it for her. "Get out Sharon and do me a favor and lose my number." She stomped out of the door and Steve slammed it shut behind her. He stood there for a moment, bubbling with rage before taking a deep breath and calming himself. He could be pissed off at Sharon later, right now Natasha needed him. He turned around to head back to the room and saw Natasha standing there.

"Steve is everything okay?"

Steve walked over to her and threw his arms around her, pulling her in for a hug. "Everything's fine now," he murmured into her hair, taking in the scent of her melon shampoo that he loves so much.

"Where'd Sharon go?" Natasha practically whispered into his chest.

Steve sighed, "She left or rather, I kicked her out." He pulled back from her a little bit, brushing his fingers through her hair again, "But we don't need to talk about that right now. Right now, we need to get you some Chinese food, ice cream, popcorn, Dr. Pepper, some crappy movies, and maybe a foot massage." He flashed her a bright smile and ran his thumbs under his eyes, wiping the remnants of her tears, "and then, when you're ready to, we'll talk about whatever's got you so upset. How's that sound?"

She gave him a small smile, "can the ice cream be chocolate?"

He laughed, "I wouldn't dream of buying anything else."

"Then it sounds perfect," she replied, wrapping her arms around him again. He hummed contently. He thought so too.


	17. Chapter 17

"It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!" - Anges Gru on these next two chapters

Also small warning for chapter 18, there is mention of emotional relationship troubles and a _very_ brief moment where Steve thinks that Brock hit Natasha (he didn't though, so the mention of this is literally one line). If any of this happens to be a trigger for you, please use caution when reading and/or skip chapter 18.

* * *

Steve went into his bathroom and ran Natasha a bath. As Natasha walked into the bathroom, she stood up on her tiptoes and gave him a small peck on the cheek. He smiled at her and shut the door as he left the bathroom. He grabbed his phone and placed a delivery order at the Chinese place that Natasha loves so much. He ordered all of her favorites, he also bribed the delivery guy to run and grab chocolate ice cream for Natasha in exchange for a $20 tip (he would've done it himself, but he didn't want to leave her alone and honestly, she was worth it). Steve went into his room and pulled out his shirt from the high school art club that she had been trying to steal from him for 3 years. "It's the softest shirt I've ever felt Steve," she would argue, pushing her lip out as she pouted when he wouldn't let her have it. He chuckled to himself at the memory. He also pulled out a pair of his shorts that he knew were going go down to her mid calves, but he couldn't help that she was only 5'3" and he was 6'0". He laid the clothes on the bed and grabbed the pillows that were sprawled out all over the bed, carrying them into the living room.

He set them down on the couch next to him. It was the first time that he'd really had time to think since he'd thrown Sharon out. Steve couldn't believe that she had had the audacity to threaten him and Natasha. He hadn't even asked anything too ridiculous of her. She could clearly see that Natasha was upset. He just couldn't understand why she was being so crazy about it.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of Natasha coming out of the bathroom. He looked over his shoulder at her and gave her a big smile, "feeling any better?" He asked.

She shrugged her shoulders, "it definitely helped some."

"Good. Well there's clothes laid out on my bed for you, Chinese food and ice cream is on its way, the fridge is stocked with Dr. Pepper and booze, and my Netflix is queued up and ready for you to pick whatever you want."

She flashed him a big smile before disappearing into his room, "thanks, Steve." As she shut the door to his room, she felt herself begin to tear up again. She tried to keep herself from getting upset. Natasha grabbed the shorts that were laid out on the bed and quickly threw them on. She then reached for the shirt, noticing that it was the shirt she had been practically begging him to let her have for years now. The tears that had been threatening to fall down her face finally did as she pulled the shirt over her head. It was still as soft as she remembered it being, maybe even softer. It was hard for her to remember though considering the last time that she had worn it had been sophomore year after spending the day swimming at Steve's house.

She let out a small laugh, the memory pulling her back.

 _Joseph had just had the pool filled and Steve and Natasha had been told that they weren't allowed to go swimming yet because they were balancing the pH levels within the pool. However, when Natasha got over to Steve's that day, he convinced her to go swimming with him, despite the fact that she hadn't brought anything to swim in._

" _I don't have my swimming suit Steve, and your dad said we aren't allowed to swim yet," Natasha protested._

" _You can swim in what you have on. It's just shorts and a t-shirt, it's not going to hurt it. I'll give you something to change into after we're done," Steve urged._

 _Natasha thought about it for a moment, "well, that solves one problem, but it doesn't solve the fact that your dad said we can't swim yet."_

" _Well my dad's not here right now, is he?" Steve asked, giving her a devilish smile. "Plus, I checked the pH levels myself, they were fine. I wouldn't let you swim in it if it was dangerous, Nat." His tone had changed slightly at the end, showing her that he was serious about not putting her in danger. She continued to think it over for a moment before her lips pulled up at the corners._

" _Let's do it," she replied, racing towards the pool. A few hours later, they were still out in the pool when they heard a voice coming from the kitchen._

" _Shit," Steve murmured, pulling Natasha behind him and out of the pool. They were standing there sopping wet when Joseph and Sarah Rogers came out through the back door._

" _See," Sarah laughed, "I told you that they wouldn't listen about the pool. You shouldn't have even told him that you had it filled yet."_

 _Joseph was looking directly at Steve, he didn't seem to find it so amusing. Natasha swallowed hard, she was sure that they were about to get yelled at. Instead, however, Joseph walked over to the gazebo that sat beside the pool and picked up a small container and a little stick looking thing._

" _It was a 7.5," Steve explained, "you told me before that it had to be between 7.2 and 7.8 to be able to swim. I tested it once this morning and again before I told Nat that we should swim." Joseph looked at the stick, then at Steve, followed by Natasha, before looking over to his wife. Sarah was smiling at him an eyebrow raised. "You know I wouldn't put her in a situation that could hurt her."_

 _Joseph finally nodded before putting the items back on the table, "well then, I'm glad I've taught you something." He walked back over to his wife, wrapping his arm around her, "but you will be cleaning the pool for the rest of the summer as punishment for not listening to me."_

 _Steve nodded, "fair enough."_

" _Now, go get cleaned up. We'll be going to dinner soon."_

" _You too Natasha," Sarah added, "you're more than welcome to come with us."_

" _Thank you, Sarah," Natasha replied before rushing off with Steve to go and get changed. When they reached Steve's room they both collapsed onto Steve's bed in a laughing fit, soaking the sheets._

" _I thought he was going to kill you," Natasha said between laughs._

" _That makes two of us," Steve replied. Once they had finally stopped laughing, Steve rolled himself off of the bed and got Natasha a new shirt and a pair of his shorts. "Here," he said, "you can wear these."_

 _Natasha looked at him for a minute, the clothes still in her hands. "You're gonna have to turn around Rogers, you're not getting a free show," she quirked an eyebrow at him, a smirk on her face. Steve turned bright red before grabbing his clothes and walking into the bathroom._

" _I'll just- change in here. You call me when you're done changing," Steve said, quickly shutting the door behind him. He had just finished changing when Natasha yelled his name. Steve came running out of the bathroom, thinking that something was wrong. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" He asked, panicked._

" _How have you been hiding this shirt from me? This is literally the softest shirt I've ever felt in my life," Natasha said as she ran her hands along the shirt on her body._

" _Nat," Steve groaned, "I thought something was wrong with you."_

" _It is!" Natasha exclaimed, "you've been holding out on me, Rogers." She stepped closer to him, putting her hands on her hips. "I think it's only fair that I take this shirt as compensation for having to doubt our friendship."_

 _Steve let out a hearty laugh, "you wish. I have to have that shirt for art club, Nat. You can't have it."_

 _Natasha stuck out her bottom lip and pouted, "but Steve, I want it." He laughed again._

" _Maybe I'll let you have it someday, Nat," he said as he walked out of the room._

" _Well it better be someday soon," she replied, following him._

Natasha had been so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't even hear Steve enter the room.

"Nat," he whispered, putting his hand on her shoulder. She turned around and looked at him, crying once again. He pulled her close and rubbed on her back, "it's going to be okay, Nat. I've got you." Natasha cried for a minute longer before pulling herself together. "The Chinese food is here, if you're ready to eat."

Natasha looked at him, God he was such a good guy. "I'm starving, let's get this party of two started, shall we?"

Steve smiled at her. "There's my Nat," he said leading her out into the living room. She couldn't help the smile that she got on her face at the sound of those words. She really liked the idea of being "his Nat."


	18. Chapter 18

Warning: Very brief moment where Steve thinks that Natasha has been physically assaulted (she wasn't so it's literally one line mentioned), however, if this is a trigger for you, please use caution when reading and/or don't read this chapter. If it is a trigger for you, but you would still like to know what happened, please let me know and I can either write a summary at the beginning of the next chapter or give an edited version that omits this line.

Thanks for reading!

* * *

Natasha walked out into the living room and couldn't help the smile the formed on her face. Steve had laid out all of her favorites on the coffee table. He had ordered her Pad Thai, crab Rangoon, egg rolls, beef and broccoli with fried rice (for him, but he'd let her steal some of his broccoli because she loved it), a giant tub of chocolate ice cream, Dr. Pepper, popcorn (and white cheddar seasoning to put on it), and vodka.

"The delivery guy didn't get exactly the right kind of chocolate ice cream, but he did go and get it for me so that I didn't have to leave you, so I guess I can't really complain too much," Steve explained as he grabbed a plate and handed it to her.

"It's perfect Steve. Thank you for doing all of this for me," Natasha practically whispered.

He smiled at her and patted the seat next to him, "let's eat."

They both ate in near silence, only talking occasionally as they watched the TV.

"Steeeevvvee," Natasha groaned after a few minutes. He turned to look at her, she was pushing what was left of her Pad Thai away from her and towards him. He laughed. "You've got to finish this, if I take another bite I'm going to explode."

"Well we can't have that, can we? I guess I'll just have to go ahead and finish that off for you," he replied, taking it out of her hands.

She watched him eat, a look of slight disgust on her face, "I don't know how you can eat so much."

"We've talked about this, Nat. My stomach is a bottomless pit," Steve said, sauce from the Pad Thai dripping down his face.

She giggled, "you're a fucking mess, Rogers," she said as she grabbed a napkin and reached forward to wipe his chin.

"You love it," he teased, leaning in towards her to playfully shove her on the shoulder.

"Mmm, I suppose," she replied, rolling her eyes at him.

"So what movie do you want to watch?" Steve asked as he finished off his food.

"I'm thinking _Bridesmaids,"_ Natasha decided.

"Nat, we've watched that movie like 30 times," Steve groaned.

"And you love it every time. You always complain at first and then spend the entire movie quoting it back and forth with me."

"Fine," Steve agreed after moment, "but I'm going to have to get a drink if we're gonna watch this." Steve stood up and walked into the kitchen. He grabbed himself a whisky glass and dropped a few ice cubes in before pouring in a generous amount of whisky. "Nat, you want a drink?" He yelled into the living room.

"Just vodka," she yelled back. Steve nodded, grabbing another glass with ice. He walked out into the living room, both glasses in his hands and the whisky bottle. When he got to the table, he set the whisky bottle and his glass down before reaching for the bottle of vodka on the table. He poured her a generous amount before passing it off to her. She took a sip and hummed in delight. Steve played the movie and they sat in silence for a bit, both watching the movie.

"Nothing like a good ol' glass of vodka to cure some heartbreak."

"Surprisingly enough, I'm not that upset about Sharon," Steve replied, taking a sip of his whisky.

"I wasn't talking about you, Rogers," she said coolly. Steve nearly choked on his drink.

"What do you mean? That's what's going on? Nat, what happened?" He couldn't stop stumbling over his words, so many questions running through his mind. He stopped the movie and turned to look at her. She tilted her head back and downed the rest of her vodka.

"We broke up," she replied, her voice sounding so small. He could tell that that wasn't the end of the story.

"Nat," He said, his voice sounding stern, "what did he do?" Natasha didn't answer him for a few moments. He scooted closer to her and grabbed her face gently in his hands, a sharp contrast to the way that his voice sounded. "Natasha Alianovna Romanoff, what did he do to you? Did he put his hands on you?" He asked, feeling his blood begin to boil at the thought.

She shook her head, "no he didn't."

"What did he do, Nat?" Has asked again, keeping one hand on her face and moving the other through her hair and back behind her neck. He could see the tears forming in her eyes again and it was breaking his heart.

"He used me," she said so softly that she wasn't sure that he'd heard her say anything at all.

"What?" Steve replied, shocked, "how?"

"He wanted to make his ex jealous, so he used me. She's in our geography class, she was almost always in the same place when we went on dates, every photo, every kiss, everything was just to make her jealous," her voice broke as she finished her sentence. A few rogue tears fell down her cheeks, Steve working swiftly to swipe them away. "It worked," she continued with a bitter laugh, "in fact, it worked so well that they got back together two and a half months ago." Steve was almost shaking he was so angry. "So, he's just been cheating on me pretty much this entire time. Apparently, she was okay with it because she knew that he was still seeing me, but I didn't know until today." She pulled out of Steve's arms and reached for the vodka bottle, she quickly poured herself another glass and drank it down before continuing. "He'd left his phone at my apartment this evening after we finished dinner, so I thought that I would take it over to him, only when I got there, the door was partially opened. I knocked on it before walking in, but I guess they were too busy to hear that. So, I walked in a saw – well, I'm sure that you can fill in the blanks. I yelled at him that it was over and went to storm out and he stopped and ran after me, grabbing my arm telling me that I didn't know what I was doing, I wasn't going to get any better than him. That it would be best for me if I just acted like I hadn't seen anything and went back to my apartment like nothing was wrong. I told him to fuck off and that I never wanted to see him again before I stormed out of there. I tried to call Wanda when I was walking back to the apartment, but she's out on a date with Bucky and I didn't want to be by myself, so I came here." She had begun crying harder now and Steve wrapped his arms around her as tightly as he could, holding her while she wept.

"Nat, I am so sorry," Steve replied, getting choked up, feeling his own hot tears begin to fall on his cheeks. "I'm going to kill him," he growled after a moment.

Natasha pulled away from him, surprising Steve. "Don't Steve," she said. "Please don't do anything, I don't want you to do anything. I don't – you can't. I don't want anything to happen to you." She began crying harder at the thought of something happening to him.

"No, no, no," he hushed her, pulling her back in close, "nothing's going to happen to me. Shhh." He smoothed down her hair and kissed the top of her head. "If you don't want me to do anything, I won't, but if he comes near you again, I _will_ stand up for you. I'm not letting him near you." She could feel his body tense against her as he said that. She knew that he was pissed off. She knew that he would be, but she needed him. Not telling him wasn't an option.

"I don't want him anywhere near me, Steve," she whispered.

"He's not going to be anywhere near you, I'll make sure of it."

"What about geography? I have it with the both of them," she wailed, panic filling her voice.

"We'll talk to your teacher. We'll figure something out. You're not going to have to be there, and if we can't work something out, I'll go with you. For the rest of the year, I'll go with you to your geography class. You won't go through that alone," Steve soothed her, continuing to rub on her back and run his hand through her hair. Slowly, she began to calm down. She pulled away from him and reached for the vodka bottle again, Steve reached out and stopped her. "Nat, just hold off on this for a while," he said calmly. She pouted at him but leaned back on the couch without protesting.

"I just feel so stupid," Natasha mumbled after a few moments. "I should've known. I should've seen it."

"Don't do that to yourself, Natasha. People like that – they see a light. Someone like you, someone who shines and all they can think about is dulling that light. It's nothing that you did," he said, brushing a piece of hair behind her ear. "You can't blame yourself. He's just a douchebag that doesn't know perfection when he sees it." Steve reached back onto the table and poured himself another glass of whisky, drinking it quickly.

Natasha tried to ignore the way that her heart fluttered a bit. "I thought that we weren't doing anymore alcohol," Natasha challenged, eyebrow raised.

"No, I said you weren't doing any more alcohol right now," Steve replied, pouring himself another glass, "I've gotta catch up and then we can drink away our shitty relationships." Natasha let out a genuine laugh and Steve smiled at her as he drank down another glass.

"Well now we're even, Rogers," Natasha said, leaning forward and pouring herself a glass of vodka. She sat back with her glass, waiting for him to do the same. "Are you going to tell me what happened earlier?" She asked after he settled back on the couch.

Steve sighed, "she's selfish. I told her what was going on and she was pissed off and upset that I would cancel our date to stay with you." He shrugged, "she wanted me to trade spending tonight with you to make sure you were okay with going to brunch with you tomorrow. She said that it was 'only fair.' It just hit me that I didn't want to be with someone who didn't understand that I'm always be here for you. em _Always_./em"

Natasha took a long sip of her drink, "are you sure you made the right choice?"

Steve looked at her, confused, "Am I-what? Of course I'm sure I made the right choice Natasha. You've been my best friend since we were five. No one is ever going to replace you or push you out of my life. If she can't understand how important you are to me, then I don't want her around."

Natasha leaned over to put her head on Steve's shoulder, "the same goes for me, you know." Steve laughed a little bit, pulling his arm out from underneath her head so that he could wrap it around her.

"Good, I'm glad." They sat in silence, just enjoying each other's presence for a few moments before Steve said, "Natasha, if Sharon comes near you, I want you to let me know."

Natasha pulled away from him, her eyebrows knitted together, "why?"

"As she was leaving, she said something about me regretting breaking up with her and that you would regret it too. I don't, well, I don't _think_ that she would do anything. I think that she knows not to go near you, but – just if she does, please tell me," Steve replied, taking her hand in his.

Natasha laughed, "I'm not afraid of her, Steve." She pulled her right arm up and flexed it, "I think I could take her."

Steve laughed, and she winked at him, "I have no doubt that you could, I just want to make sure that you're alright." He finished his drink and set it down on the table.

"I know," she said, her voice soft. She leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek, lingering for longer than she normally would before settling back against his chest. Steve felt like his whole body had been set on fire, feeling the blush rise to his cheeks, and his heart begin to beat faster. Every cell in his body was screaming at him to turn and kiss her. When Natasha pulled away, he could see that she was blushing as well. He tried to rationalize it as the alcohol that they'd been drinking, but a part of him was hoping that it wasn't.

"Did you want to crash here tonight?" He asked.

She hummed, "if you don't mind. I have missed my favorite human pillow." Steve couldn't help but smile thinking about the last time that she had stayed the night at his place.

"Is that all I am to you, Romanoff? A human pillow?" He teased.

"You jussmight be," she ribbed back, her words slurring together slight from the alcohol.

He gave her a warm smile, taking the rest of the glass of vodka out of her hand, "Alright Natty, I think that's enough for tonight. Are you ready for bed?"

"Yeah," she said as she sat up and stretched, "today has been exhausting."

Steve nodded his head and stood up, turning around and offering her his hand, "I agree." Natasha walked into his bedroom and threw her body onto the bed while Steve put away the rest of the food and drinks before grabbing the pillows and heading into the bedroom. He threw the pillows onto the bed and Natasha moved to make room for Steve to slide onto the bed. He laid on his back, holding out his right arm for Natasha to curl up against his chest. She hummed contently as she cuddled up beside him. "I was thinking," Steve said beginning to doze off, "we should see what the others are doing tomorrow. We could all go to that laser tag place."

"That sounds like fun," Natasha replied sleepily. He laid there for a few moments, but just before he fell asleep, he could have sworn he heard Natasha say, "I love you, Steve."

Without a moments hesitation, he responded, "I love you too, Nat," a small smile painted on his face as he let his sleep overtake him.


	19. Chapter 19

Whaaaat? A double post? Yep! Enjoy guys! As always, please leave comments, favorites, etc.

* * *

Natasha awoke the next morning, rolling over to put her head on Steve's chest, but once she had flipped over, she realized that he was no longer there. She frowned, why had he gotten out of bed? Did he not want to stay and cuddle with her? She laid there for a little while longer, hoping that maybe he had just gotten up to go to the bathroom and would be right back. After about five minutes, she decided that she would get up and find out what he was doing.

As soon as she opened the door, the smell of pancakes and eggs hit her nostrils.

"Well good morning sleepy head," Steve said from the kitchen. "You woke up just in time! I was just about to come and get you for breakfast. Go ahead and sit down on the couch, I'll bring it to you. You want hot syrup?"

"Is there any other way to eat pancakes?" She asked as she walked over to the couch. Unable to help the smile that spread across her face.

"According to you, no," Steve replied bringing a plate of pancakes and eggs over to her. "You know, for a ballerina, you eat like shit." He winked at her before turning around and walking into the kitchen.

"Fuck you, I work out pretty much every single day, if I want my pancakes to be overflowing with syrup, I'm going to do it," Natasha stuck her tongue out at Steve. Steve chuckled.

"Hey, I'm not doubting your dancer bod," Steve said as he walked over with the cup of hot syrup, "I'm just saying you have the diet of like a 15-year-old boy."

"Well, when your best friend is a human garbage can, you tend to develop similar eating habits."

He feigned a hurt expression, earning him a giggle from her. He handed over the hot syrup to her and she smothered her pancakes in it before handing it back to him so he could add it to his. She took a bite and hummed.

"This is so good," Natasha said, her mouth still full.

Steve laughed, "well good, I'm glad it meets your standards.

"Mhm, definitely," Natasha replied, hardly taking the time to stop eating to talk to him. "Next weekend can you make French toast?" She asked.

"Next weekend? Hmmmm, I don't know, I think I might have plans," he teased.

She pretended to pout and gave him her best puppy dog eyes, "pleeeeasseee?"

"Okay," Steve relented, "I suppose so. How could I say no to that face?" He grabbed her cheeks in his hands and squeezed until she pushed him away.

* * *

"So, what's the plan for today?" Natasha asked after they'd finished eating and spent some time watching TV. Steve had picked her legs up into his lap and was massaging her feet.

"Well," he said, "I already messaged everyone to see if they were down to go to LaserField later tonight, and they all said that it sounded good, but that's not until around 5. After that? I don't know."

"Then it's a good thing I do," Natasha replied, sitting up a little bit. Steve could tell that he was in for trouble based on the mischievous glint in her eyes. He raised his eyebrow in question. "Strip poker," she said, a smile breaking out across her face. Natasha could see the hesitation on Steve's face, and she decided to use his competitive streak to her advantage. "That is, unless you think you can't beat me Rogers."

Steve's mouth fell open slightly, "oh, you're going down Romanoff."

"We'll see about that." She winked at him, "you want to make it interesting?"

"I suppose that depends on what you have in mind," he replied, raising his eyebrow.

"Winner gets to be the boss of the other for the day, complete control of everything. You can't say no to whatever the winner wants to do, where they want to go, etc."

"So, what's in it for you? I already do that anyway," Steve laughed.

"Oh hush," Natasha replied, lightly kicking the foot he was massaging.

"Yeah alright, but it's not just the winner of poker. It's the combined winner of laser tag _and_ poker. Winner of laser tag gets an automatic 5 points and we each get 5 points for each item of clothing lost during poker."

She smirked at him, thrusting her hand out towards his, "deal."

"Deal," he echoed.

Natasha leaned back against the arm of the couch, "well then, I'm going to take a power nap so that I'm ready to kick your ass tonight."

"Yeah, you'd better just go ahead and do that, I want to make sure it's at least a somewhat fair fight." Natasha smiled at him before laying back and drifting off to sleep.


	20. Chapter 20

It's probably best to add a small disclaimer here. I don't own any of these characters or Marvel. Some of the dialogue in this chapter is borrowed from "Age of Ultron" and "Captain America: The Winter Soldier." This is purely for entertainment purposes, though if they want to cast me in a new roll, I'll definitely take them up on that offer! ;)

* * *

"Alright everyone, you know the rules. There are no alliances here. We're talking about you two," Tony said, pointing at Steve and Natasha.

"You don't have to worry about us," Natasha replied, rolling her eyes. "I fully plan on kicking his ass. I would, however, worry about Bucky and Wanda."

"Those two can't take their hands off of each other," Steve added. "I wouldn't be surprised if we found them making out in a corner somewhere in there."

"Hey punk, you watch it, I'm coming for you now," Bucky threatened, bringing two fingers up to his eyes and then pointing them towards Steve.

"Try me," Steve ribbed back.

"Alright, alright, back to the rules," Tony interrupted, "1) no alliances, 2) everyone has to pick a codename, 3) keep moving, you aren't allowed to stay in one spot. I'm looking at you Loki. The rest of the rules are typical laser tag rules: no covering your sensors, etc. the boring stuff. Okay! Everyone go and pick your codenames, remember, they can't be your own name!"

* * *

Steve and Natasha walked over to the kiosk to type in their codenames. "What are you going to pick?" Steve asked, leaning over to see what Natasha was typing.

"Well, I've given this a lot of thought," she replied, giving him a sly smile, "I'm going with 'Black Widow.'"

"Black Widow? Why?"

"Because they devour men and that's exactly what I'm going to do to you." She turned and began to walk away from the kiosk, "better watch your back, Rogers," she called behind her.

"That's Cap to you!" He shouted back quickly typing in his codename and rushing off after her.

* * *

"Really? You're going with 'Winter Soldier,'" Wanda said giggling.

"Doll, it sounds so badass," Bucky replied. He mocked an action movie trailer, "you've been killed by the Winter Soldier."

Wanda rolled her eyes and began typing in her name. "Scarlet Witch? That's kind of sexy," Bucky said leaning in to nip at her earlobe.

"Knock it off Barnes," Wanda squealed, running away from the kiosk.

* * *

"Iron Man's ready for battle," Tony boasted as he entered his name into the kiosk.

"I feel like you've thought about this waaaayy too hard Tony," Pepper replied, punching in her own name.

"Salt?" Tony asked, confused.

"Get it?" Pepper asked, clearly amused with her own name choice, "since you all call me Pepper? I went with salt."

"Yiiiiikes," Maria said, punching in her own name, "Hill-arious. Now that's how you make a pun on your name Pep. Who are you going to be Sam?" Maria and Sam had been dating since a few weeks into the year after meeting at the party. Since they got together, Sam had really become a part of the group.

"Falcon," Sam replied, puffing out his chest.

"Laaaaame," Tony shouted as he walked away.

"Hey, it's not- babe, it's not lame. Falcon sounds cool, right?" He asked Maria as they walked to grab their gear.

* * *

Bruce quietly walked up to the kiosk by himself, "hulk." Well, no one would suspect that it was him at the very least.

* * *

Thor, Jane, Darcy, and Loki walked up to the kiosks to pick their names.

"What are you ladies going to choose?" Loki asked.

"Well Jane's going to be D-Jane-Go, like Django, but with her name in the middle. I'm going to be Dicey," Darcy replied, giggling at their names.

"Hmmm, I'm thinking God of Thunder," Thor said, beginning to type in his name. However, when he pressed enter, it wouldn't accept it. "What?" Thor yelled, "Why will it not accept this?"

Loki began laughing, "Because there's already one God. The God of Mischief."

"Loki," Thor growled. "Fine. Lord of Thunder it is." He huffed as they walked away.

* * *

"Alright Piet, what do you have up your sleeve?" Clint said, they were the last two to enter their names.

"Quicksilver," Pietro replied.

"Niiiice," Clint held his hand up for Pietro to hi-five.

"What about you?" Pietro asked.

"Hawkeye," Clint answered.

"Sweet," Pietro replied as they rushed off to grab their stuff and join the others.

* * *

"Alright everyone, welcome to LaserField! I'm sure you've all been here before, but I'm going to remind you of the rules really quickly. First of all, there are three floors all with different obstacles, places to hide, ramps, towers, etc. you may use anything and everything in the rooms to help you get the drop on your opponents. You may not cover any of your sensors to prevent yourself from being shot. Shooting another player counts for 15 points. You are able to use all three floors, in fact we encourage it,-" The attendant kept going through the instructions, however, Steve and Natasha had engaged in a taunting match that distracted them from the rest of the rules.

"You're going down Rogers," Natasha whispered, leaning closer to him.

"The game's already on Widow, it's Cap to you now. Just remember that every time you see my name pop up on your screen," he winked at her, barely visible in the dim lighting. She couldn't help the little flip that her stomach did. She wasn't even really sure why. He'd winked at her plenty of times before. She was now more determined than before to beat him.

"Alright everyone," the attendant yelled as the large metal doors opened up and the siren sounded, "have fun!"

Everyone took off running, immediately spreading out throughout the different floors.

"Game starting in – 30 – seconds," a robotic voice sounded. Natasha had just reached the third floor, taking a hard right, jumping over the low sitting barriers and running up a ramp into one of the towers to get a better view of what was going on. From where she was perched, she could see Tony running off to the right, he was hiding from Clint who had vowed to shoot him as many times as possible after Tony embarrassed him in front of Laura, the cute barista Clint has been talking to.

"Game starting in – 15 – seconds," the robotic voice sounded again. Natasha lined herself up with where Tony was and ducked down to minimize the chances of her being seen before having a chance to shoot him.

"Game starting in – 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1." The siren sounded, signaling the beginning of the game. All of the guns booted up. Natasha pushed herself off of the ground, aiming her gun at Tony, and shooting straight for the big target on his back. She hit him dead on and his vest went dark, shutting down his gun for five seconds.

"SHIT!" Tony yelled, dropping to the ground.

Natasha had already ran from her spot, moving to a different area so that they couldn't pinpoint where she was. Being a ballerina gave her an even bigger advantage. She was naturally light on her feet, making it easy for her to sneak up on her targets. She wove in and out of the obstacles, stopping a few yards behind another tall figure. For a moment, she thought that it was Steve, but it was far too skinny to be him. She was almost spotted when the person turned around but moved quickly keeping herself hidden. She took a deep breath before moving out from behind her barricade and taking a shot at where she had assumed the figure had moved to. She hit her target but saw another light flash out of the corner of her eye. Natasha dropped to a knee, spinning to her right and aiming the gun one barrier away from where she had last seen the light. Not a moment later, the person appeared, and Natasha quickly shot them.

"Dang it," Darcy whined. "Who the hell is 'Black Widow'? That's freaking awesome!"

Natasha smiled to herself before moving toward the north stairwell to head down to level 2.

* * *

Meanwhile, Steve was down on the first floor strategically moving through the course himself. He knew that Natasha wouldn't be down there, she preferred to go up to the top first and work her way down, which definitely played a factor in his decision to start at the bottom. The longer he could avoid having to face Natasha, the better chance he had of beating her. She was quick and a good shot, not that Steve wasn't good himself, but there were definitely others that would be easier to get points out of. He could hear some of the girls yelling off to his left, so he stopped for a moment to listen.

"SAM!"

"PIETRO, YOU ASS!"

 _Alright,_ he thought to himself, _there's at least four over there, possibly five. Let's do this._ Steve ran up one of the ramps and into one of the towers. He crouched down just barely peaking out the window. He could see a small cluster of lights off to the left and another a few yards away. He knew that he was too far away where he currently was, so he left the tower and ran off towards the area where he had seen the lights. Steve took a wide arc by where he had seen the first cluster. He jumped over a small barrier before rolling behind a half wall. He knelt peaking out from behind the wall slightly. He could see one of the girls standing there, peering through a small window in the wall she was hiding behind. Steve quickly aimed his gun and shot the big target on her back. When he saw her vest go dark, he ran over to another wall seeing another one of the girls standing a few yards away. He swiftly lifted his gun, shot her vest and continued moving on. Once he had made it through all of the girls, he ran over to the spot that he had seen the guys.

He climbed up into a nearby tower to get a better look at the floor. He had a hard time finding the lights until he leaned a little further out the window. He could see a small bit of blonde hair shining in the dim light. Pietro was standing at the base of the tower. Steve slowly leaned out the window and pointed his gun down. He shot for his right shoulder target and after he hit it, he quickly exited the tower. _Four down, one to go._ He had a hard time finding Sam, he knew that Sam typically liked to be up higher, but he'd been checking the towers and didn't see any sign of him. Just as Steve rounded the corner, he saw a flash of light on his right.

"On your left," Steve said as he lifted his gun and shot at Sam's target. Sam's vest went dark and Steve could hear him yelling something about it being a lucky shot as he ran towards the south side stairwell.

 _Time to find Nat._

* * *

Natasha had been making her way through the second floor. She'd already found Bucky, Wanda, and Thor (and got points off of them) but had yet to run into Steve. _That bastard's hiding._ She jumped over a few obstacles and ran up one of the ramps to a small landing. She could see the area that she had just left and all of the lights bouncing around from her friends trying to tag each other. She was just deciding on whether or not to go back over there and rack up some more points when she heard the stairwell door close on the south side of the floor. _Steve,_ Natasha thought to herself. She quickly ran down the ramp and to the right. She knew she could sneak up on him if she flanked him, but she would have to work quickly. She followed him, watching him go toward where the others were fighting. She waited for him to crouch down before silently walking up behind him.

She raised her gun, pointing it at his back before she spoke, "I'm sorry," she teased, "Did I step on your moment?" Natasha shot his back sensor as he tried to roll away.

"Dammit Widow," he yelled as she sped off. _Now this game gets interesting_. She knew that he was going to follow her whether his gun was active or not, that just meant that she had to shake him. She quickly hung a left, jumping over a barricade, and rolling to the right. She thought that she had lost him, so she stayed low, her gun pointed in the direction she came from, ready to fire.

"It's like you're not even trying," Steve said, gun pointed at her, "you're getting predictable."

"Fuck," Natasha groaned. She turned to try and shoot him first, but he pulled the trigger killing her gun before she could.

Steve clicked his tongue, "language," he teased, shaking his head before running off again. She followed him over towards where everyone was fighting. He had gone to one side and she had gone to another. She was getting ready to shoot him when Loki went running past. Natasha quickly turned and shot him as he ran past. Steve made eye contact with her for a moment before tilting his head to his left gesturing for her to follow him. She squinted him thinking it might be a trap but followed him. She quietly moved throughout the obstacles before coming up to a small clearing where several of their friends were. Steve looked at her and raised his eyebrows, she nodded in agreeance. They both began shooting into the clearing, Natasha had shot three and Steve had shot four. After they had shot everyone in the clearing, Natasha turned to where Steve was and shot his shoulder sensor. She stuck out her tongue and sprinted off.

* * *

The game continued for another 15 minutes, both Steve and Natasha racking up impressive scores. When the siren blared signaling the end of the game, everyone made their way to the exit. They were all sweaty and tired, but everyone gathered in the scoring room to find out who won. The rankings were as follows: 15) Darcy, 14) Bruce, 13) Jane, 12) Pepper, 11) Pietro, 10) Sam, 9) Loki, 8) Bucky, 7) Tony, 6) Wanda, 5) Thor, 4) Maria, 3) Clint, 2) Natasha, and 1) Steve. Steve won by 30 points (2 shots).

"Yessss," Steve shouted. Natasha rolled her eyes.

"You might've won this round, _Cap,_ but that'll just make it more upsetting when you lose," Natasha teased.

Steve leaned in close to her, his lips almost touching the shell of her ear. Natasha could feel her heart begin to race, "You'd better be ready to strip, _Widow_ ," he said, his voice low. Natasha felt her face go slightly red. However, she quickly regained her composure.

She patted Steve on the chest and smirked at him, "let's just hope you've done laundry, Rogers. It'd be embarrassing to show everyone those American flag boxers I bought you for your birthday. Though, come to think of it, I might enjoy actually seeing them _on_ you."

Steve felt his mouth go dry. Now he _had_ to win.


	21. Chapter 21

Everyone had congregated in Steve and Bucky's room after laser tag. They ordered pizza and broke out the booze. Tony talked Jarvis into taking them to the liquor store to get everything they wanted before heading back to the dorms to kick the night off.

"Yes! This is exactly what we needed, a night together just like we used to have in high school," Clint exclaimed.

"Agreed, my friend!" Thor boomed, lifting his glass up and urging everyone to do the same. Everyone cheered and lifted their drinks in agreeance.

"Damn, I wish I would've known you all in high school, it sounds like you guys knew how to have fun," Sam said, throwing his arm around Maria.

"Oh, you have no idea babe," Maria replied, kissing his cheek.

"She's not joking," Bruce added, "if you think they're wild now, they might have been even more wild back then."

The group continued to chat for a while, everyone joining in on random conversations and eating/drinking like they were never going to be able to again. Natasha looked at Steve who was sitting across the room with Bucky and Pietro. She smirked at him as she grabbed her phone out of her pocket.

 _ **You ready to lose our bet, Rogers?**_ She typed. She waved her phone at him and he squinted his eyes in confusion before it went off. When he pulled it out of his pocket, he laughed. He quickly typed back.

 _ **Oh, I'm not losing anything Romanoff. You, however, better be ready to lose your clothes.**_ Natasha nearly choked on her drink reading his message. She felt her hands go clammy. Steve saw her reaction and attempted to hide his own satisfaction at making her so flustered. He took another sip of his drink while he waited for her reply.

 _ **Hmmm, you'd like that wouldn't you (; If that was your whole goal, all you had to do was ask :P**_ It was Steve's turn to get flustered. She was joking, right? _Of course she's joking_ , he thought to himself. _She has to be._ Steve was about to respond to her when Clint got his attention.

"Hey Steve," he said as he sat down, "did you not want to invite Sharon?"

Steve quickly glanced at Natasha before turning his attention back to Clint, "uhh, well we actually broke up last night." He replied, bringing his hand to the back of his neck and rubbing it.

"Oh shit. Well, it's probably for the best anyway. She's crazy." Clint patted Steve on the knee before getting up to walk away.

"Clint wait," Steve exclaimed. "What do you mean she's crazy?"

"Well, I'm assuming that you dumped her, right? I mean, she was super into you, so it obviously wasn't her. She doesn't like competition and she doesn't take too kindly to being dumped. So, she dated this guy that I know, his name's Wade Wilson. Well they dated for a while before Wade got tired of the way that she was constantly trying to push people away from him. He felt really isolated and like he could only spend time with her. He eventually broke up with her and she threatened him telling him that he was going to regret it. Well, when time went on, he found this other girl that he really liked named Vanessa. Sharon did everything that she could to try to ruin things between them, she even went so far as to try to attack Vanessa. I mean, it was years ago now, so maybe she grew out of it, but I don't know. I was going to warn you at that party forever ago, but we got distracted and then the next time I saw her, she seemed really nice, so I just thought that I wouldn't bring it up," Clint explained. Steve felt his blood run cold. _Natasha_ , he thought. _She had it out for Natasha. She'd wanted to get rid of her from the beginning. That explained why she was always so insistent on making plans with him every day, so he couldn't see her. That explained why she was so upset when Natasha showed up, why she had tried to turn her away despite seeing that she was upset._ It all made perfect sense.

"Clint," Steve whispered, pulling him down to be eye level with him, "I need you to do me a favor."

* * *

"Alright everyone, listen up," Natasha yelled, standing up. She could feel the alcohol coursing through her veins and had a pretty good buzz going. "I propose a game," she flashed everyone a devilish smile, "strip poker."

Almost everyone cheered, "yaaaaas!" "I'm down." "Let's do this!"

Everyone except Bruce, Pepper, Jane, and Loki decided that they would play.

Thor was the first to lose, followed by Tony and Clint. Maria and Sam both lost at the same time, with Darcy losing not long after. Pietro was the next to lose, with Bucky and Wanda losing after. It was down to just Steve and Natasha. Everyone had left including Bucky and Wanda who went back to Wanda's room. Natasha was currently losing, down to only 3 items of clothes, her bra, panties, and shorts. Steve had his undershirt, boxers, and both socks still.

"Yes!" Natasha exclaimed, "Take it off Rogers!" Steve groaned before reaching down and taking off one of his socks. Both were sufficiently drunk, and Steve was struggling to pay attention to his cards instead of Natasha sitting in front of him in a lacy black bra. He was fighting to maintain his composure, God he wanted to kiss her. He was beginning to think that she wouldn't mind, but he didn't want to do anything to jeopardize their friendship. _I've got to lose_ , he thought to himself. Natasha dealt the next hand, Steve's cards were okay, but he didn't think that he would win the hand.

"I'm all in," Steve said, eyebrows raised, challenging her to bet against him. Natasha narrowed her eyes, he was hoping that she couldn't tell that he was trying to end the game.

"I'll take that bet," she said after a moment, a smirk crossing her features.

Steve laid down his cards, "two pair."

Natasha looked down at her own hand before looking up at him again, "three of a kind, suck it Stevie!"

Steve groaned, secretly relieved that he had lost. "Good game Nat. Looks like you win our bet too," he said, reaching for his discarded clothes that were lying on the floor. Natasha threw her arms over the pile. Steve furrowed his eyebrows, "what?"

"I don't know what you think you're doing, Rogers. Take it off," Natasha replied, staring him down.

Steve felt himself go red, what was she doing? "I-Nat, I don't think-,"

"You went all in Rogers, if you didn't want to lose it all, you shouldn't have bet it all. Now take it off." Natasha was smirking at him now, waiting for him to comply. Steve tried to swallow, but his mouth was completely dry.

"Uh, alright," Steve said hesitantly. Natasha moved off the floor to sit on the couch, crossing her arms with a smug look decorating her features. Steve began by taking off his sock. He dropped it on the pile of his other discarded clothes before looking back to Natasha. She raised both of her eyebrows, a look that said, "go on." Steve look in a sharp breath as he reached to grab the back of his undershirt, pulling it over his head, holding it in his hand for a moment before throwing it on the ground as well. He could see Natasha's face get flushed as her eyes wandered over his body. He really was a sight to see, the way that his boxers sat on his hips, she could see the deep 'v' running along his hips and downward. His abs were pronounced and all she wanted to do was run her hands all over them. She'd seen him like this before, mostly whenever they went swimming, but that didn't stop her from admiring him every time she did. Natasha fought back the urge to bite her lower lip.

Steve hooked his thumbs under the elastic of his boxers, ready to drop them when Natasha quickly stood up, "alright, you can stop," she said, her composure regained. Steve looked at her questioningly.

"You were right though, I did go all in. It's only fair." He saw her face get red again.

"I was teaching you a lesson, Rogers," Natasha replied as she stepped closer to him. Her body was almost touching his and Steve felt his breath hitch. "Don't let me win next time." she winked at him as she walked over to her own pile of clothes and began pulling them back on. "Do you mind if I stay again tonight?" she asked.

Steve was still trying to get his heart to stop racing, "no, of course not. You're always welcome to stay."

"Great," she smiled, "then I'm going to go and get PJ's and then I'll be back."

"Okay, uh, I'm gonna go put on something comfier too. I'll see you when you get back," Steve replied, quickly grabbing his pile of clothes and rushing into his room.

Natasha walked back to her room, not stopping to check in with Bucky and Wanda before shutting her door. She pushed her back up against it before sliding down it and onto the floor. _You're in trouble Romanoff. You want him so bad._


	22. Chapter 22

Natasha woke up still wrapped in Steve's arms the next morning, she let out a comfortable sigh as she pushed herself further into his arms. She closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep. She dreamt that she was at a house that reminded her of Steve's parent's house. Natasha was sitting on the gazebo looking at the twinkling lights and candles that Steve had placed everywhere. She heard the sliding glass door open and turned to look over her shoulder. Steve was walking up to her with two plates of food in his hands. He was wearing a pair of khakis, a light blue polo, and a pair of brown leather shoes. Natasha ran her hands down her burnt orange colored dress that hugged her figure nicely before it flared out just below her natural waist. Steve stepped into the gazebo, putting her plate in front of her before leaning in and giving her a sweet kiss. Natasha felt herself moan ever so slightly at the sensation, pushing back against his lips eagerly. When he broke the kiss, Steve gave her that boyish smile of his that makes Natasha's heart flutter. He sat down across from her, taking her left hand in his, and running his thumb along the back of her hand.

"You're so beautiful, Natasha," Steve said, his voice laced with adoration.

"Thank you," Natasha replied, blushing, "you're not so bad yourself."

Steve laughed, "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Nat," Steve started, scooting slightly closer to her, "I love you so much. I'm so glad that I get to call you mine. I love waking up next to you in the morning. I love going to sleep beside you every night. I love coming home to see you sitting on our porch reading. I love painting you. I love absolutely everything about you, and I've never – felt this way before. I can't imagine not having you by my side."

"I can't imagine not having you by my side either, Steve," Natasha whispered.

Steve slid out of his chair, her hand still placed safely in his. He dropped to one knee. "Natasha Alianovna Romanoff, you are the greatest thing to ever walk into my life. I have loved you every single day since the day that I met you, and I will continue to love you every single day until the day that I die." Steve reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. He popped it open and sitting inside was a gorgeous ring. It was perfect, the diamond wasn't too big, nor was it too small. It was vintage looking which was everything that Natasha wanted while still being simple. "I called you my best friend for 13 years, I've called you my girlfriend for 4 years, now I want to call you my fiancé, so I can finally call you my wife. Will you marry me?"

Natasha was speechless, the tears running down her face had slightly blurred her vision, but she could tell that Steve was crying too. She couldn't say anything, but vigorously nodded her head. "Yes?" Steve asked, relief coloring his voice.

"Absolutely yes," Natasha replied giving him a big smile. Steve let go of her hand for a moment to grab the ring out of the box before sliding it onto her finger. It fit perfectly, and it was absolutely stunning. Natasha looked up at him, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"I've had it for 3 years," Steve explained a sheepish grin covering his face. "You know when my mom gave you that little ruby ring for Christmas? She bought it partially because I had her get your ring size for me. I bought it after our first anniversary. Honestly, I could've bought it after our first date, but I figured that might be a little too soon."

Natasha laughed before cupping his face in her hands and kissing him, placing every ounce of feeling, passion, and love into the kiss as she could. He returned it with equal fervor.

In her dream, Steve began brushing her hair back behind her ear, a product of Steve actually brushing her hair back behind her ear.

"I love you, Steve," she said both in her dream and aloud. Steve hesitated for a moment and lifted his head off the pillow, not sure whether she was awake or asleep. She began lightly snoring a moment later and Steve resumed brushing her hair back.

"I love you too, Nat," he whispered, laying his head back down on the pillow. Maybe she hadn't meant to say it, and maybe she didn't mean it romantically, but he was positive that he did.


	23. Chapter 23

As always, please favorite, follow, comment, etc.! Also, I posted another new story today called "We Need You." So you should definitely check that out as well.

* * *

Both Steve and Natasha fell back asleep for a couple more hours. Steve woke up to Natasha's head laying on his chest just below his chin with her arm thrown across him low on his hips. Steve took his arm and squeezed Natasha's shoulder. Natasha groaned and buried her face further into Steve's chest. He chuckled, "Nat, it's time to wake up," he said softly.

"No," Natasha grumbled. Steve brought his hand up to Natasha's head and played with her hair.

"So, we're just going to stay in bed all day?" He asked.

"Yes," Natasha replied, tightening her grip around his waist. She couldn't help but notice the way that he said "we." It brought a smile to her face, "you're not allowed to leave either. I've got to have my favorite pillow."

Steve laughed, "well I didn't say that I was going anywhere, did I? I do think that you're going to get hungry though and that's going to be enough to get you out of bed eventually."

"Nope," Natasha said, "I thrive on cuddles, they're my fuel now." She tilted her head up ever so slightly to meet Steve's eyes. She loved the way that his eyes twinkled even in the dim light of the room. Steve ran his hand along the edge of her face.

"I suppose there are worse places I could be," he raised his eyebrow at her before cracking a smile.

Natasha took her hand and mussed it through his hair, "awh, that was almost a compliment."

"The key being almost, Romanoff," he replied, winking at her.

The rest of the day was uneventful with the two of them lazing around until Natasha finally decided that she was hungry enough to get out of bed. After they scrounged up some food, Natasha sat on the couch watching TV while Steve sat at his desk working on his homework for the business class he was taking this semester.

"Uuuuughhh," Steve groaned after a bit. "I hate it. I hate it so much. I don't care about this stuff."

Natasha pushed herself up off of the couch and walked over to where he was sitting. He had his head down, held up only by his hands. Natasha grabbed onto his shoulders and began massaging them. Steve moaned at the sensation, tension began to leave his shoulders as soon as she started working the muscles.

"I hate this class. It takes up so much of my time and I feel like I have to rush to get my other stuff done which is upsetting because that's the stuff that I actually _want_ to do."

Natasha hummed in understanding, "I know, Steve. But look at it this way, we're almost done with the semester and if you want, I can try to help you. You can do this, Steve."

Steve sighed, "alright, thanks Nat." He tilted his head back and smiled up at her.

"I have an idea," she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of his chair. "Grab your chair and put it in front of the couch, I'll be right back." Steve was curious but didn't protest. Natasha walked into his room and rummaged through some things before finding what she was looking for. She held the item behind her back and walked up to where Steve had placed his chair.

He raised his eyebrows at her, "are you going to tell me what you have, or?" Natasha smiled and pulled his sketchbook out from behind her back.

"Sketch me." Steve was slightly taken aback, she'd never asked him to sketch her before. Yes, she'd seen his art, but she'd never asked to be featured in it before.

"Uh, I don't know, Nat," Steve hesitated. "Are you sure?"

Natasha rolled her eyes, "Steven Grant Rogers, are you really going to be shy about your work with me? I'm your best friend, come on, sketch me." Steve ran his hand down his face before meeting Natasha's gaze. "Steve, we've been best friends for like 13 years now, I've seen your work and it's amazing." Steve smiled at her, a blush rising to his cheeks. "Plus, we've been best friends for 13 years and you've never sketched me." She placed her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows expectantly.

Truthfully, he _had_ sketched her before, but it wasn't anything that he'd ever shared with her or told her about for that matter.

"I'll let you pose me how you want and everything," Natasha tried to bribe him, flashing him her sweetest smile.

Steve laughed, "alright fine, let me go grab my stuff." Steve walked into his room and grabbed his assortment of pencils. When he walked back into the living room, he grabbed one of the TV trays that Bucky had bought and opened it up. He carefully laid out his pencils on the tray and grabbed his sketchbook. Steve took a deep breath, "you ready?" He asked. Natasha nodded eagerly. He walked over to the couch, "sit down with your legs crisscrossed and put your left arm up on the armrest, but don't lean your weight on the arm rest." Natasha did as she was told, looking up at him for approval when she was finished. "Good," he said, "I'm just going to make little adjustments." He began ever so slightly changing the way that she was sitting, he positioned her arm where her elbow was on the armrest and bent the rest of her arm in toward her body. After he was happy with the way that her body was positioned, he turned his focus to her face. "Relax Nat, I want you to just look natural, like you would when we're just having a conversation."

"I thought you said natural, not annoyed," she quipped, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Ha ha," he replied sarcastically. She smiled at him and he smiled back. He pulled her hair back from her face, brushing it behind one ear and over her shoulder, leaving the other side in front of her ear. "Okay, I think we're ready. You won't be able to talk for a little bit while I'm sketching your face, but after that's done, I'll let you know. The rest of you I need to stay as still as possible though. Alright?"

"Yes sir," she teased. He rolled his eyes at her as he walked back over to his sketch pad. He picked up one of his pencils, hesitating slightly before bringing it down on the page and drawing the first line. The minute that the pencil hit the page, Steve was in another world. Natasha resisted the urge to breakout into a huge grin as she watched him work. He would study her for a moment before looking down at his page and working some more. She was studying him as well. She noticed the way that his forehead creased slightly in concentration, the way that he would furrow his eyebrows together whenever he made an error before grabbing his eraser, she noticed that sometimes he would bite on his lip when he was concentrating especially hard on something, and she noticed the way that sometimes he would look up at her and smile before going back to his work. Natasha wasn't sure how long they had been sitting in silence, the only sound being the scratch of the pencil against the paper, but she was still having a good time. There was never a pressure between them to fill the silence, so it was actually pretty peaceful.

"Alright," Steve said after some time, "I suppose if you had to talk now, you could." He looked up at her and winked.

"You know, maybe you should quit art all together and just go into comedy," Natasha teased. Steve grinned as he looked back down at the sketch. "How's it coming? Have you made me look like a goddess yet?"

"It wouldn't take much," Steve murmured. Natasha felt her face get warm, she felt the urge to look away from him, but she knew she couldn't move. Steve glanced up at her quickly, noticing that she was red. He smirked a little.

"You're more relaxed," Natasha observed.

"You're right. This is relaxing to me," Steve replied, "even when it's frustrating, I still enjoy it."

Natasha hummed, "I understand exactly what you mean. That's how I feel about dancing, particularly ballet. It's therapeutic. Even on days where my turns are less than perfect, and I feel sloppy and disconnected, there's nowhere else I'd rather be, nothing else I'd rather do."

"Exactly," Steve said. They were both quiet for several minutes before Natasha spoke again.

"Steve?"

"Hmmm?" He replied, not looking up from the sketch.

"You're still going to go with me to my geography class tomorrow, right?" Steve looked up and met Natasha's eyes. He could see that she was beginning to worry.

"Nat, I told you that you weren't going to have to face him alone and you know I keep my promises," Steve replied, putting his pencil down to give her a reassuring look. "We'll go to your class tomorrow, I'll be with you the whole time, and then after class, we'll talk to your professor and explain the situation. Hopefully they understand and are willing to work with you, but if they don't, we'll still work it out. If they don't work with you, I'll still be with you every class." Natasha nodded slightly. "I'm almost done, give me 10 more minutes and you'll be able to relax."

"Okay."

They sat in silence for ten more minutes before Steve finally announced that he was done.

"Can I see it?" Natasha asked

"It's not completely finished, like it's not the final product. I still need to clean some stuff up and then go through and add color, but the basics of it are done," he explained.

"Steve, I'm sure it's great." Natasha got up and walked behind the chair that Steve was sitting in to look over his shoulder at the sketch. She let out an audible gasp whenever she saw it. "Steve," she whispered, "I-It's-I love it." She gently took the sketchpad out of his hands, bringing it towards her for a closer look. "Is this really how you see me?" she asked incredulously.

"Well yeah Nat, I just sketched what was in front of me," he gave her a warm smile. She threw her arms around him and hugged him. It took him by surprise at first, but he quickly reciprocated the hug. She pulled back and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," he replied. He was trying to ignore the warmth radiating from the spot where she kissed him, but it was very distracting. "When I'm done with it you can have it."

"No, you've put in so much work. You should keep it," Natasha insisted, handing him back the sketchbook.

"No, I'm giving you this one, but you will have to sit for me another time so that I get one of my own. Deal?"

"Deal," Natasha said, unable to control just how much she was smiling.


	24. Chapter 24

Natasha rolled over in bed to shut off her alarm on Monday morning. She'd hardly moved and was already feeling incredibly sick. She was freezing cold despite the fact that she was wrapped up in her blankets and sweating. The sun was shining through her window and it was making her head pound even more than it already was. Her body ached like she had just run a marathon and then lifted weights for several hours. She went to sit up and was instantly hit with a wave of nausea and dizziness. Natasha groaned and reached for her phone, she was supposed to meet Steve for breakfast, but with the way that she was feeling, she wasn't even going to make it out of bed.

 _ **Man down,**_ she typed.

 _ **?**_ Steve replied after a minute.

 _ **Can't move, so sick**_.

 _ **Be right there,**_ Steve sent back just moments later. Natasha closed her eyes and covered her face with her arm. A couple minutes later Natasha heard Wanda yelling, followed by the slam of a door.

"Sorry Wan!" She heard Steve yell back. A couple of seconds later Natasha's bedroom door opened and Steve walked in. "Hey," he said in a soft voice, "what's going on?" Natasha explained how she was feeling while Steve walked over to the bed. He sat beside her on the bed nudging her arm away from her face. "God Nat, you're burning up," his brow furrowed, clearly worried about her. Natasha groaned, rolling over to put her head on Steve's leg. He smoothed down her hair for a moment before sliding his leg out from under her. He turned around and held his arms out to her, "alright, come here." He leaned down and scooped her up in his arms, carrying her out of her dorm room and to his. He carried her into his room and laid her down on his bed. "It's darker in here, so you'll be able to get more sleep. I'm going to run back to your room and grab your laptop, so I can email your professors and your director," he brushed her hair out of her face. "Try to get some more sleep and after you wake up I'll run a bath for you."

"Thank you," Natasha replied, her voice sounded very weak. Steve leaned down and kissed her on the forehead.

"Of course," he said, "now get some sleep." He pulled the blanket up to her shoulders before walking out of the room. Natasha buried her face in his pillows, closed her eyes, and passed out almost instantly. Steve had just stepped out of the room and pulled his door shut behind him when Bucky emerged from his own room.

"Hey punk," he greeted, "I thought you were grabbing breakfast with Natasha this morning?"

"Well I was supposed to, but she woke up really sick this morning, so we're not going," Steve replied, walking over to his desk and sitting down to talk to Bucky.

"Damn, that sucks. What's wrong with her?" Bucky asked.

"I don't know, but I'm really worried about her. She says she's freezing, but she's burning up and sweating. She's dizzy, she feels like throwing up, she's nauseous, her head's pounding, and her body is aching. I felt her forehead and I'm positive that she's running a fever of at least 100 degrees, but probably higher. I'm staying home with her today. I wouldn't be able to focus if I tried to go to class anyway, I'd just be worried if she was okay or not." Steve sighed. "What time's your first class today again?" He asked after a moment.

"Not til 10," Bucky replied, walking over to the cabinets and pulling out a box of Poptarts.

"Can you stay here with Nat while I run to the store to get some stuff for her? Please? I don't want to leave her alone," Steve looked at Bucky pleadingly.

"Dude, you've got it so bad for her, but yeah I will. I want to make sure she's okay too," Bucky chuckled.

"Thanks man, you're the best, I'll be back in like 30 minutes," Steve said, hoping up from his chair, grabbing his keys and jacket before racing out the door. He'd only been out of the room for 10 seconds before he poked his head back in. "Oh, make sure you check on her like every 10 minutes, she's in my room. Just make sure she's alright. Okay, be right back." Bucky shook his head and laughed. When were those two going to see how bad they have it for each other?

* * *

Steve arrived at the store 5 minutes later. He walked directly to the pharmacy and began grabbing things for Natasha. He grabbed some nausea medication, some ibuprofen, a couple of ice packs, a heat pack, some essential oils to help with her headache (and that he could use with her bath water), and a thermometer so he could keep a better eye on her temperature. He then walked over to the grocery isles to grab stuff to make her some soup. He knew that her favorite was when he made homemade tomato soup, but he was afraid it might be too hard on her stomach, so he settled on chicken noodle soup. He also thought that she could use the protein from the chicken. He was just about to reach the checkout when he nearly ran into a smaller woman.

"Sorry about that," he said, looking down to double check that he had everything in his basket.

"Stevie!" Steve stopped digging in his basket and snapped his head up to meet Sharon's eyes which were fixated on him.

"Oh, um, hi Sharon," Steve replied after a moment. Once the shock had worn off, Steve began moving toward the checkout again. Sharon followed him, trying to start up a conversation with him.

"I've missed you," she said, putting her hand on his arm. He politely but firmly pulled his arm away from her.

"It's been three days Sharon," he kept his focus on what was going on in front of him.

"Oh, I know! I just was hoping that you had finally come to your senses and realized that you've made a _huge_ mistake."

Steve whirled around to face her. "Quite the opposite actually," he replied coldly.

"I don't know what makes you think that you can talk to me like that," Sharon shot back, "what kind of lies has that whore Natasha been telling you?"

It took every ounce of strength Steve had to restrain himself. "Don't _ever_ talk about her like that. In fact, keep her name out of your mouth Sharon." He spun back around and put his basket up on the conveyor belt to go to the cashier.

"This is your last chance Steve, I already told you once that you're going to regret it if you don't come to your senses." Steve quickly shoved his money toward the cashier.

"Just keep the change," he mumbled before grabbing his things and storming out of the store. When he made it to the car, he took in a deep breath to try to calm himself. He was practically shaking. Who did she think that she was to talk about Natasha like that? He thought about what Clint had said at the party. He picked up his phone and dialed it quickly. It rang a few times before the other person picked up.

"Hey Nick, it's Steve."

* * *

When Steve got back to the dorm, he ran by Natasha's room to grab her laptop before heading back to his own room. Bucky was sitting on the couch watching TV when Steve walked in.

"Get what you need?" Bucky yelled from the couch.

"Yeah I did," Steve replied setting the bags down on the counter. "Did you check on her recently, how was she doing?"

"Oh, she wasn't breathing, I just left her there though," Bucky teased. Steve shot him a dirty look, and Bucky rolled his eyes. "Yes punk I checked on her. She was just fine. Burning up like you said, but other than that she was okay. She's out like a light."

"Good," Steve said. He began to put away the stuff for the soup that he would make later. "I ran into Sharon at the store."

"What? Really? How did that go?" Bucky asked, his interest peaked.

"She called Natasha a whore and I almost lost it."

"Dude," Bucky replied, shocked. Steve nodded his head. He could feel his blood beginning to boil over it once more. "You don't think that she'd like, try something, do you?"

"Well, I didn't at first, but now I don't know," he took in a sharp breath, "but I'll be damned if she tries to and gets away with it."

Bucky stood up from the couch, "I'm sure it'll be okay." He walked over to Steve and patted him on the back. "I've got to go pal, I'm supposed to meet Wanda to grab a bite before class. I'll see you later though and text me if anything happens with Natasha."

"Will do," Steve replied. It would be okay. He'd make sure of it.


	25. Chapter 25

Note: I bumped the rating up just to be safe. Enjoy!

* * *

Steve opened up Natasha's laptop and sent emails to her professors letting them know that she would not be attending class that day. He then sent an email to her director letting her know that she wouldn't be able to be at rehearsal that night. After he sent off the emails for her, he exchanged her computer for his so that he could let his teachers know that he wasn't going to be in class that day either. Luckily a couple of his classes were just having work time that day, so it wasn't a big deal that he wasn't in class. His mind was still turning from his worry about Natasha being sick, running into Sharon at the store, and being worried that Sharon was going to do something to try to hurt Natasha. Steve sighed, pushing himself up off the couch. He opened up his bedroom door to check in on Natasha. He stood there until he saw the slight rise and fall of her chest. Once he was sure that she was okay, he quietly pulled the door closed and walked back into the living room. He walked over to his desk and pulled his sketchbook out of the drawer.

Steve opened the sketchbook up to the page where the sketch of Natasha that he'd been working on was. He smiled at the page before grabbing his pencils out of the drawer so that he could begin working on it more. He decided to start with her hair since it was one of his favorite things about her. He worked meticulously blending different shades of red and orange together to get her color just right. Once he was satisfied with the hair, he moved on to her eyes. He sat there for a moment, wanting to make sure that he got every fleck of deeper green right. For a moment, he thought about waiting until she was awake so that he could study her eyes, but just the thought of doing that was causing his stomach to do flips. Instead, he pulled out his phone and quickly opened it up. He looked at the home screen picture of him and Natasha from lunch on move-in day. She'd grabbed his phone from across the table at the Chinese restaurant before sliding out of her side of the booth and over to his. Steve had complained because he wasn't particularly a fan of having his picture taken, but Natasha insisted that they had to commemorate their first day on campus.

Just before Natasha snapped the picture, Steve had thrown his arm around her shoulders. She'd accidentally snapped a picture as he did. They were both looking into each other's eyes and smiling. Steve felt butterflies in his stomach thinking back to that. He opened up his photo gallery to the picture that she took immediately after. In the picture, Natasha's holding the phone up with her right arm, and she looked absolutely stunning. The light had been shining through the window in a way that enhanced her red hair, her eyes were especially green that day, and her skin looked like it had been carved out of stone it was so smooth. As beautiful as she looked, that wasn't what her eyes normally looked like, and that wasn't what her eyes had looked like yesterday. Steve kept flipping through his photo gallery sifting through the seemingly endless silly photos of Natasha that she takes whenever she steals his phone. There was one particular photo that he was looking for. It was a picture that he had taken of her whenever they had gone to Colorado together after graduation. When he finally found it, he couldn't resist smiling. She was standing up on top of a mountain, the sun was shining and illuminating her skin. Her hair had been pulled up into a messy bun on the top of her head. She was flushed and exhausted from the hike, but she still had flashed him the brightest smile. She wasn't wearing any make-up on her face, yet her eyes still absolutely shone. He zoomed the picture in on her eyes, so he could use it for reference.

Steve wasn't sure how much time had passed whenever he finally finished working on her eyes, but he was positive that it had to be at least an hour. He stretched and got up from the desk. He peaked in on Natasha once again before going out to the living room and laying on the couch. It wasn't long after he'd laid down that he fell asleep.

* * *

Steve sat straight up when he heard Natasha yell his name from in the bedroom. He launched himself off the couch and ran into the room.

"Nat? What's wrong? Are you okay?"

Natasha was curled up in a ball on the bed, "everything hurts," she groaned.

Steve walked over to the bed and put his hand on her forehead, he held it there for a moment. She was still burning up. "Do you want to try taking a bath?" he asked.

"I feel too weak to move, I don't even feel like I could undress myself, let alone walk there," she croaked. He sat down next to her and brushed her hair out of her face. Steve had an idea, but he was hesitant to even suggest it.

"What's hurting, Nat?" He asked after a moment.

"My body is aching, my head still feels like it's being split in half, I feel like puking, I'm dizzy, I'm freezing, my throat hurts, do you want me to go on?" Steve frowned.

"I'll be right back." He got up from the bed and walked into the kitchen to grab the medicine that he got her. He dosed out everything that she would need before taking it back into the room to her. "Alright Nat, hopefully this will help you. Do you think you can sit up?"

"No," Natasha whined.

"It's okay, I've got you," Steve said. "Here, hold this." He handed her the pills that he brought into the room before climbing up onto the bed with her. He put his back against the wall and put one of his legs on the other side of her curled-up form before sliding his arm under the upper half of her body and slowly pulling her up and against his chest.

"Steeeevve, it hurts," Natasha groaned. He gently shushed her and smoothed her hair down. He grabbed the water bottle off of the table next to the bed and opened it up for her.

"Use this and take that medicine." It took Natasha a little while to get all of the medicine down, but once she did, she leaned her head back against his chest. Steve's previous idea came back into his head. "Nat?" He asked after a moment, "Do you think that a bath would help?"

"I already told you Steve, I feel too weak to be able to."

"That's not what I'm asking Nat. Just, do you think a bath would help?" Steve asked again.

"Yeah," Natasha replied. Steve took in a deep breath.

"Well then I have a suggestion, but if you're not comfortable with it, then it's completely fine. I just want you to feel better,-" he started.

Natasha turned her head slightly to look at him, her eyebrows furrowed together, "what?"

"Do you want me to help you get undressed so you can take a bath?" Steve resisted the urge to close his eyes in preparation for what he was sure was going to be her yelling at him for even suggesting the idea. Natasha didn't yell, she didn't even look at him weird for suggesting it.

"I have a better idea," Natasha said after a moment.

Steve raised an eyebrow at her, "and that is?"

"Take a bath with me."

Steve felt like he'd been punched in the stomach the way the air seemed to leave his lungs. "I-uh, Nat, are you- I mean-do you really? Are you sure?" He sputtered.

"I didn't mean naked, Rogers. You'd go get my bathing suit and put yours on," Natasha elaborated, letting out a slight chuckle which quickly turned into a coughing fit.

"Oh," Steve said, slightly relieved. He could feel the heat coming off of his face from him blushing.

"But you will have to help me get into my bathing suit," Natasha looked up at his face and Steve looked down at her. "Are you okay with that? I just don't think I can sit up in the bath by myself or wash my hair."

Steve kept looking at her for a moment, not saying anything. He'd be lying if he said that he wasn't a little concerned about this, especially knowing how he felt about her, but he did want her to feel better and if she thought that this would help, he was willing to push aside any other feelings to do so. "Yeah Nat, it's okay."

"You're sure?" she asked again. "If you aren't comfortable with it, I understand. You just had offered to help me get undressed anyway and I,-"

"Nat, it's fine, seriously. I'm going to lay you back down on the bed and go get your bathing suit and then I'll be back. Will you be okay here by yourself for a few minutes?" Steve brushed her hair out of her face.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," she replied.

"Okay," he said. He slowly laid her back down on the bed before crawling off careful to jostle her as little as possible. "I'll be right back."

"Steve?" Natasha called after him.

"Yeah Nat?"

"Thank you for always taking care of me," she gave him a small smile.

"Always Nat. Be right back."

* * *

Steve walked into Natasha's dorm room to see Bucky and Wanda sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Hey punk, how's it going?" Bucky yelled from the couch. Steve walked into Natasha's room and began digging through the drawers of her dresser. He couldn't seem to find her bikini anywhere.

"What are you doing?" Wanda said. Steve turned around to see Wanda standing there, a curious expression on her face.

"Uh, well," Steve brought his hand up to the back of his neck, "I kind of-need Nat's bathing suit, but I can't seem to find it."

Wanda looked at him her brows knitted together, "why do you need Natasha's bathing suit?" She asked, a hint of amusement in her voice.

"She, uh-Wanda, uhh." Steve groaned. "I need it so she can take a bath," he whispered, his face getting redder by the second.

"What?" she asked again, a smile spreading across her face.

"Please don't make me say it again Wanda," Steve whined.

"Why would she need it for a bath, Steve? Hmm?" Wanda teased, raising an eyebrow expectantly at him.

"Because," he replied, gritting his teeth slightly, "she can't sit up on her own, so-i'm going to take a bath with her."

"DUDE WHAT?" Bucky yelled from behind the door.

Steve hung his head, exasperated, "it's just a friend helping a friend Buck. She's really sick, just come on, Wanda, do you know where her swimsuit is?"

"Mhm," Wanda hummed, "I have it in my room. I borrowed it. I'll get it for you." She flashed him a big smile before disappearing out the door.

"Dude, we've got to talk about this later," Bucky said to Steve after Wanda left.

"No Buck, we don't," Steve groaned.

"Oh, we definitely do," He replied, walking away to sit back on the couch.

Wanda reappeared moments later with the bathing suit and Natasha's shampoo. "She'll want this too, let us know if you guys need anything else," she chirped, winking as him as she left the room.

"Thanks Wanda," he said as he left the room. _Great. They're definitely never going to drop that._

* * *

When Steve got back to his room, he went into the bathroom and set her shampoo down before drawing the bath. He then went out to the kitchen a grabbed the lavender essential oils so he could put a few drops in the bath water before they got in. He heard that it was supposed to be calming, as well as nausea, so he was hoping that it would help her with that too.

After he was satisfied with the way that the bathroom was set up, he went to go and get changed and get Natasha. Steve took a deep breath before stepping in the room. _You can do this_.

"Alright Nat, you ready?" He asked.

"Yeah," she said weakly from the bed. Steve walked over to the bed and set the swimsuit down. "What do you want to start with, tops or bottoms?"

"Top, it'll be easier since I'm not wearing a bra anyway." Steve was grateful that the room was dark enough that Natasha probably couldn't see just how hard he was blushing.

Steve cleared his throat, "alright." He climbed behind her on the bed once again and took her into his arms. He got her sitting upright and gave her a moment to rest before getting to work. He gently slipped her arms out of her shirt before pulling it up and over her head. He felt his breath hitch and was really hoping that Natasha couldn't feel just how fast his heart was beating. Steve quickly reached over and grabbed the bikini top and threw the top portion around her neck before grabbing the two loose bottom strings and pulling them behind her back so he could tie them. "You doing alright Nat?"

Natasha was also working to make sure that her breaths were coming out even. If she didn't feel so terrible, she might actual enjoy the way that he was undressing and redressing her. "I'm okay," she croaked out, her voice raspy. Once Steve had the top done, he kissed the top of her head and she hummed happily. He worked quickly to get the bottoms on and had to try even harder to calm himself once he'd seen her exposed. When he was done getting her ready, he picked her up and carried her into the bathroom.

"I'll be right back." Steve walked into his room and grabbed his swim trunks. He took his first deep breath since before getting Natasha ready. _You've got to focus, Rogers._

Meanwhile, Natasha was also trying to calm herself down. She'd seen Steve without a shirt on more than once, but that didn't make it any less attractive. She could spend the rest of her life looking at his bare chest and still never get tired of the sight, and he'd just seen her more exposed than he had in years. She might've even been a little offended that he didn't seem very effected by it if it weren't for the fact that her head was spinning and not just from her thoughts about him.

Steve returned to the bathroom and scooped her up in his arms placing her in the bathtub gently before dropping in a few drops of the lavender essential oil, grabbing her shampoo off of the counter, and joining her in the bathtub.

"You brought my shampoo?" She asked, unable to help the smile that spread across her face.

"Wanda suggested it," he replied with a shrug.

"Wait, you told Wanda what was going on?" She seemed shocked.

"Uh, yeah, well not on purpose," Steve stuttered. "I couldn't find your suit and Wanda asked what was going on and it turned out she had it, so her and Bucky kind of know now. Sorry."

Natasha relaxed back into his chest, "it's not a big deal Steve. I don't really care, I just thought that you would avoid telling her at all costs."

Steve chuckled, "well I definitely tried." Natasha smiled and tilted her head so she could look up at him. He really was something else. He grabbed a small cup that was placed on the edge of the tub and scooped the warm water up in it before pouring it over her head. He did this a few times before grabbing the shampoo. Natasha had her eyes closed, enjoying the feeling of Steve pampering her. He squeezed the shampoo out of the bottle and onto his palm, already hypnotized by the mango scent that he loved so much. It was the scent that he associated with being able to hold Natasha close to him since he could always smell it the strongest whenever she was cuddled up against him. He began working his fingers through Natasha's hair and she moaned at the sensation. The sound made Steve's heart race and his stomach tighten, but he kept his focus on washing her hair. Once he was satisfied with the amount of shampoo in her hair, he began rinsing it out, running his fingers through her hair once more to make sure he'd gotten it all. Natasha hummed in delight.

"Thank you," she whispered as she leaned her head back on his chest again. He leaned his head down to kiss the top of her head.

"Anything for you," he murmured, his lips still pressed against her hair. They sat there in silence for a while longer, Steve's arms wrapped tightly around her both of them enjoying the closeness of the situation. When Steve began to notice the chill of the water, he carefully stepped out, and dried himself off before turning around to pick up Natasha. He had laid his towel down on the edge of the bathtub and used her towel to dry her off. She watched as he worked meticulously. "Feel any better?" he asked.

"I think so," Natasha replied. "Definitely more relaxed than before if nothing else." He smiled knowing that he played a part in that. He picked her up and carried her back into the room. Steve quickly dressed her in the art shirt she loved so much and a pair of sweatpants (she'd been saying she was cold despite her sweating, so he figured it might help warm her up). He gently laid her back on the bed, "are you hungry?" She thought about it for a moment.

"I don't know that I can eat, but I'll try," he nodded.

"Then I'm going to changed really quick and go get your soup started, I'll be right back. Call me if you need anything." She hummed and closed her eyes.

Steve exited the room, threw on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, and began grabbing everything to make the soup. He'd just grabbed the pot out of the cabinet and set it on the stove when he heard Natasha yell for him. It wasn't a significantly different yell than normal, but Steve's blood ran cold. He burst into the room and saw Natasha sitting on the edge of the bed. She was breathing heavily, her arms braced on her knees, she looked up at him and he could see sweat dripping down her face.

"Steve," she gasped out, she attempted to stand up, but her eyes went glassy and seemed to roll back into her head as she passed out, falling to the floor. Steve caught her just before her head hit.

"Nat?" He said, shaking her slightly. "NAT!" He yelled. He could feel his eyes beginning to brim with tears. Her breathing was heavy, and she was unresponsive. Steve quickly pulled her into his arms, grabbed his keys and phone off of his desk, and sprinted out of the room. He ran down the hall to Wanda's room and began kicking furiously on the door.

"What the fu-" Bucky cut himself off at the sight of Natasha passed out in Steve's arms. He could see Steve was holding back tears and trying not to panic. "Wanda meet us at the hospital!" Bucky shouted.

"What?!" Wanda yelled back, stepping into the living room.

"It's Natasha, we've got to go. I'll see you there, I love you," Bucky quickly grabbed the keys out of Steve's hands and the two of them took off running. When they got to Steve's car Bucky hopped in the driver's seat with Steve jumping in the back with Natasha. _Please Nat, please be okay. I can't lose you,_ he thought.


	26. Chapter 26

Bucky sped the entire way to the hospital, as soon as they pulled up, Steve jumped out of the back of the car with Natasha still held tightly in his arms.

"HELP, SOMEBODY HELP," Steve practically screamed when he walked in the emergency room doors. In seconds, he was surrounded by doctors and nurses. When they went to take Natasha out of his arms, Steve held onto her tighter.

"Sir, you've got to give her to us. We need to treat her. I promise you we'll take good care of her," one of the doctors said reassuringly to him. Steve nodded. He passed her to the doctor who gently laid her on the bed before whisking her off to treat her. Steve stood there, watching as they ran off feeling numb as he watched her red hair disappear behind the doors. A few seconds later Bucky ran into the hospital too. He clapped his hand over Steve's shoulder, pulling him back to reality.

"Sir?" A nurse said as she came up to Steve and Bucky, "can you answer a few questions for me?" Steve nodded his head. "Okay, first, what's her name?"

"Natasha Alianovna Romanoff."

"Okay, what's her date of birth?" The nurse asked as she clicked on the next box on her tablet.

"November 22, 1999."

"Alright, do you know if she had any medication today?" She asked. Steve listed off the different medicines that he had given her. "Okay, is she allergic to anything?"

Steve thought for just a moment, "she's allergic to bees, but she's not allergic to any food or medicine. At least not as far as she's told me, and she would've told me."

The nurse nodded, "how long has she been unconscious?" Steve went pale, he didn't know. He hadn't paid attention to the time all day, he looked over at Bucky panicked. Bucky lifted up his wrist to check his watch.

"You came and banged on Wanda's door at around 1:45 and it's 2:05 now, how long was she out before you came over?" Bucky asked.

"I don't know, a minute maybe?" Steve replied, running his hands through his hair and fighting back tears.

"Okay, so we'll just say about 20 minutes." The nurse said. "Did she ever stop breathing?" Steve felt like he was going to throw up.

"No."

"Good, that's good." She rubbed Steve gently on the shoulder. Steve nodded. "Just one last thing and then I'll take you to the waiting room, what's your relation to her?" He felt his mouth run dry. He knew that he should just say friend, but he was terrified that if he did they wouldn't let him see her later.

"I'm her boyfriend, Steve Rogers. Almost her fiancé, I'm planning on proposing at Thanksgiving this year." Bucky hid the shocked expression on his face. He could tell before that this was really tearing him up, but now he could see just how bad. Steve never lied, so for Steve to tell a lie like _this_ , and a lie this big, he knew he was on the verge of a breakdown.

The nurse smiled, "we're going to help her, okay? Now, if you'll follow me." She took them back to a small secluded waiting room. Steve walked in and dropped down on one of the chairs. "You guys will be more comfortable here than you will be out there. I do recommend getting in contact with her parents just to let them know what's going on. I have kids myself and the thought of my daughter being in the hospital and me not knowing about it is terrifying to me. Anyway, if you need something you can press that call button right there." She pointed toward a small button near the door. "If there's any news, we'll let you know."

Bucky thanked her before walking over to take a seat beside Steve. He put his hand on his shoulder and gave it a small squeeze. Steve was staring straight ahead, the emotion that he was feeling was almost imperceptible. "Steve," Bucky said after a moment, "she's going to be alright." As soon as the words left Bucky's mouth, Steve lost it. He began sobbing uncontrollably, all the fear and worry he'd been feeling washing over him. Bucky wordlessly wrapped his arm around Steve's shoulder and pulled him in for a hug. Several minutes went by of the two of them sitting there, Steve sobbing onto Bucky's shoulder before Wanda walked in. She gave Bucky a concerned look and Bucky just shook his head lightly. Wanda nodded before taking a seat on the other side of Steve, gently rubbing his back.

After a while, Steve finally calmed down. Wanda had texted the rest of the group to let them know what was going on, and they were all going to be heading to the hospital as soon as they could (most of them were still in class). When Steve had regained his composure, he pulled his phone out of his pocket, grateful that he'd remembered it, and quickly dialed Nick's number. When Nick picked up, he explained the situation as quickly as he could. Steve could tell that Nick was alarmed, but he was currently out of the state on a trip for his job, so he was unable to make it. He asked Steve to keep him updated and told him that he would keep his phone on. Steve promised that he would. He was just about to hang up the phone when Nick stopped him.

"Hang on just a minute Steve," Nick said. Steve felt a knot tighten in his stomach. He fully expected Nick to yell at him for not watching her close enough and for doing a shitty job taking care of her. "Thank you for taking such good care of my daughter. You're always there for her, and we both know that we can count on you to always do what's best for her. So, do us both a favor and stop blaming yourself. You didn't do anything wrong. There's no one I trust more than you, besides myself of course, to always do right by her. You've proved that time and time again. With that being said, I have another favor to ask."

"You know I'd do anything for either one of you," Steve replied, his voice hoarse.

"Perfect because this is for both of us. Do me a favor and tell her how you feel. You've both been into each other for so long. I have a bet with your mother about when you guys would admit your feelings and I'm about to lose $100. Save me $100 Steve, okay?"

Steve was shocked, "uh, yeah, okay."

"Don't tell her I told you about the bet, but do call her and your father, they'll want to know what's going on as well."

"Alright."

"Also, you have my approval, so don't worry about that. I've got to go now, but don't forget to keep me updated."

"Absolutely Nick, and thank you," Steve replied before hanging up. He looked down at his phone for a second taking in what Nick had just told him.

"Is he coming?" Wanda asked.

"Um, no, he's out of state for a business thing, but we're supposed to keep him updated."

"Alright," Wanda said, "I'll make sure we don't forget." Steve nodded his thanks as he dialed his mom's number. It rang twice before she picked up the phone.

"Steve?" Sarah answered sounding both confused and surprised. Her son rarely made an actual phone call to her, usually preferring to text or visit if he had something he wanted to talk about. "What's wrong?"

Steve felt the tears return to his eyes, "it's Natasha, Ma."

"I'll be right there," Sarah replied quickly. "Are you at Fairmount Hospital?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I'll be right there, are the others with you?"

"Just Bucky and Wanda right now, but everyone else will be here soon," Steve said. He had to admit, just knowing that his Mom was going to be here did make him feel a little bit better.

"Alright. I'll see you in about 15 minutes. I love you."

"I love you too, Ma," Steve replied before hanging up the phone. He sighed and sat back down on one of the chairs.

"Sarah Rogers to the rescue," Bucky joked. Steve cracked a small smile. He folded his arms and leaned his head back on the chair. It wasn't long before he passed out, the adrenaline of the last couple hours finally wearing off.

* * *

"Steven. Steven," Sarah said, shaking him gently to wake him up.

"Hey Ma," he said, stretching before giving her a hug.

"Have you heard anything yet?" She asked, brushing his hair down in the places it was sticking up.

Steve sighed, "no we haven't."

"Okay," she replied. "How are you holding up?" She rubbed her hand on his back and he placed his face in his hands and dropped his elbows on his knees.

He was quiet for a long time before he spoke, "she was fine, Ma. I was just with her. I had just stepped out of the room to make her some soup and then she yelled my name and I went in there, and-," he stopped, taking in a ragged breath.

"Shhh, it's okay honey, she's going to be alright," Sarah soothed him as she continued rubbing his back in small circles.

"Where's Dad?" He asked.

"He was still at work, he's going to call in a while and check in." Steve nodded.

"Nick's out of town."

"I know, I texted him and told him I was headed here and that I would make sure he was updated on what was going on," Sarah said. She couldn't help but notice how torn up her son was. She'd always know that he loved and cared for Natasha, even as more than a friend, but seeing how wrecked he was absolutely broke her heart.

"Mr. Rogers?" An unfamiliar voice called from the door to the waiting area. Steve shot out of his seat and ran over.

"That's me," he said.

"You're the soon to be fiancé, correct?" The doctor asked.

"Yes sir," Steve replied with no hesitation.

"I wanted to inform you that Natasha is stable, it appears that she just has a severe case of the flu and a slight infection in the lining of her stomach, but she'll be completely fine. Her fever was 102 when she came in, but we've already managed to begin to get it down. We've started her with antibiotics and fluids, we want to keep her overnight, but pending everything going alright tonight, she should be okay to go home tomorrow." Steve hardly heard anything after the doctor said that Natasha would be fine. He almost reached out and hugged the doctor he was so relieved.

"Thank you," Steve said breathlessly, "thank you so much." He could feel tears beginning to swell in his eyes again. "Can I see her?" He asked.

"She's sleeping right now, but if you would like to go back there in just a bit, I will take you."

"That would be wonderful doctor, thank you."

"Absolutely, call if you need anything or you're ready to go back," he said before turning to leave the room.

Steve turned around and everyone melted into a group hug. A few stray tears fell from Steve's eyes, relief finally washing over him.

"Why didn't we get the group hug invitation?" Tony jokingly whined from the doorway. Pepper swiftly hit him in the side. All of their friends were standing there, balloons and flowers in their hands.

"Is she going to be okay, Steven?" Thor boomed from the back of the group, a giant bouquet of flowers in his hands.

Steve smiled, "she's going to be just fine." Everyone looked as relieved as Steve felt. They all walked into the room and set their things down before joining in on the group hug.

"Hi Mama Rogers," Darcy said cheerfully.

"Hi Darcy. Hi everyone," Sarah replied, smiling at Steve's friends (who were pretty much also her kids with how often they were over at her house). After everyone settled down and began their own conversations, Sarah pulled Steve aside.

"So, what's this fiancé thing?" Sarah asked, her eyebrow raised.

Steve got a sheepish grin on his face, "I might've told them that I was her boyfriend and her soon to be fiancé because I was worried they wouldn't let me see her or tell me what was going on if they thought I was just her friend."

Sarah smiled at him, "Steven Grant Rogers, you are so in love with that girl it's ridiculous."

"So, I've heard," Steve mumbled. Sarah put her hand on Steve's shoulder.

"You know how you felt today? How scared you were? What would have happened if she didn't make it and you hadn't told her how you felt. Don't wait too long," Sarah said. She leaned in and kissed his head. "You should go wait with her until she wakes up, I know you want to." Steve nodded.

"Thanks Ma." He walked over and pressed the call button. A nurse came a few moments later and took him into the room. He felt sick seeing Natasha hooked up to all of the different machines. He grabbed a chair in the corner of the room and brought it up to beside her bed. Steve studied her face for a few moments, she did look better than she had earlier that day, but she was still paler than usual. He grabbed her hand in his and pulled it up to his lips, giving it a kiss. All of the emotions that he had been feeling earlier that day returned and he let his tears fall freely.

"I'm not dead, you don't have to cry at my bedside like it's a funeral," Natasha's croaky voice teased.

Steve looked at her and smiled, "well how about you do me a favor and never do that again." He took his free hand and smoothed down her hair.

"I'll take it under advisement," she winked at him. He laughed lightly and pushed himself up to kiss her forehead.

"You'd better."


	27. Chapter 27

Hi guys! Today has been insanely busy and I was only able to get one chapter out, I'm sorry! But I will try to make up for it tomorrow and maybe post 3 chapters (that's pretty ambitious though, so we'll see). Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

Steve stayed with Natasha for around 30 minutes before going back out to the waiting room so their friends could rotate through the room to give her their flowers and balloons and wish her well. Steve sat down on one of the couches feeling much more relaxed than he had in hours. Natasha was doing okay, the antibiotics already seemed to be helping her, and she was beginning to seem more like herself again. He leaned his head against the back of the couch and closed his eyes. It wasn't long before everything that his Mom and Nick had said began running through his head again. He knew that his Mom was right, what if this had been a lot worse than just the flu? What if she hadn't made it? _Soon_ , he thought to himself, _I'm going to tell her very soon._

Their friends ended up going home that night since Natasha was doing well, but Steve stayed up at the hospital with her. Bucky clapped him on the back and asked him to text if he needed anything and Steve promised that he would. His Mom was the last to leave, giving Natasha a kiss on the head and telling Steve to take good care of her with a wink before heading home for the night. Steve let out a sharp breath and plopped himself down on the chair by Natasha's bed.

He ran his hands over his face, "how are you doing?"

"Well, my body doesn't feel like it's trying to tear itself apart as much anymore, so that's a start," Natasha gave him a tired smile. Steve reached out and grabbed her hand, running his thumb over her knuckles.

"Good." He smiled back at her. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Steve spoke again, "you scared the shit out of me today, you know that?"

Natasha looked down at their intertwined hands, "I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize, Nat. I just-I don't know that I've ever been that scared in my life." Steve brought his free hand up to her cheek, running his thumb over it. "I thought- I didn't know what was happening and I was trying really hard to keep it together."

Natasha smirked at him, "yeah, Bucky told me you were a mess."

"Of course he did," Steve replied, rolling his eyes.

Natasha squeezed his hand, "Thank you for taking care of me Steve, and thank you for staying here with me tonight. I really didn't want to be here alone."

"Yeah well, they weren't going to get me out of here even if they tried." He gave her a warm smile.

There was a knock at the door and the doctor entered. "How are we feeling?" he asked Natasha.

"I'm feeling better than before, but I'm still in some pain," she replied.

"Well, we'll get you some pain medicine to help with that and we're going to also give you another dose of the antibiotics, how's that sound?"

"That sounds wonderful doctor, thank you," Natasha smiled at the doctor.

"I'm going to go grab that stuff for you and I'll be right back, after that I'll leave you and your boyfriend alone unless you need something in which case you can push your call button." Natasha raised her eyebrows and looked at Steve when the doctor referred to him as her boyfriend. This didn't go unnoticed by the doctor who look at Steve and said quieter, "did you already ask her to marry you?" Steve felt himself go bright red under the heat of both of their stares.

"Uh yeah, after today I just couldn't wait any longer to ask her to be my wife," he turned and smiled at Natasha who had a smirk on her lips.

She turned and looked at the doctor, "and how could I say no, he didn't really give me much of a choice." She winked at the doctor to show that she was joking.

The doctor patted Natasha on the knee, "well congratulations to the two of you! Hopefully we can get you out of here tomorrow morning so you can celebrate properly! I'll be right back with your medicine." He turned and left the room. Steve kept his eyes fixated on the door, feeling Natasha's gaze bore into his skull.

"So, _fiancé,_ are you going to tell me when you proposed? Or when we started dating for that matter?" Steve turned to look at her, she had her eyebrows raised and a smug look on her face. Steve brought his hand up to the back of his neck and rubbed it a few times.

"Well, I might've told them that I was your boyfriend, soon to be your fiancé because I was afraid that they wouldn't let me back here to see you if I just said I was your best friend." He paused for a moment. "But you know what? I'm not even going to apologize because I would do it again in a heartbeat," Steve squinted his eyes, expecting her to hit him or yell at him or something, but instead, she just laughed.

"I never asked you to apologize. In fact, I think it's kind of sweet. I can't believe that Mr. Truth told a lie, but it's still sweet."

"Mr. Truth? Really Nat?" Steve rolled his eyes. "I've lied before, you know."

"Mmmm," Natasha thought, "not really. If we're not counting lying by omission, then no."

"I have too!"

"Steve Rogers, you have not. Name _one_ other time that you've straight out lied," Natasha folded her arms over her chest and looked at him expectantly. Steve thought about it for a moment but couldn't find a time that fit Natasha's parameters. He sighed and shook his head.

"Alright, fine. I don't lie, but like I said before, I would do it again in a heartbeat if I needed to for you." Natasha smiled at him and reached out to grab his hand again.

"I know you would, and I'm honored that you would lie for me," she teased.

The doctor came back in and gave Natasha the rest of her medicine. It was around 7, so Steve ran down to the cafeteria to grab them some food. The two of them ate and talked until around 10 when they decided that they were ready for bed. They were both exhausted from the day's events.

"Steve?" Natasha said.

"Yeah?"

"Will you sleep up here with me?" Steve turned away from the TV to look at her.

"Are you sure that I can? I mean, what if they need to check on you in the middle of the night and you're covered in wires and tubes. I don't want to accidentally hurt you or something." Natasha rolled her eyes.

"Has anyone ever told you that you worry too much, Steve?" _Only about you,_ he thought. "It'll be fine, I promise. If they need to check something in the middle of the night, we'll figure it out, and you won't hurt me because we'll figure that out, too." Steve took in a deep breath, he really could not say no to this woman.

"Alright Nat, scoot over." Natasha happily slid over in her bed. The IV that she had on was running to her left arm, so she slept on the left side of the bed to avoid having to drape the tube over Steve. She then lifted the wire that was connected to the little heart rate monitor that was on her finger up so that Steve could crawl under it and onto the bed.

"See? That wasn't very difficult." Steve laid on his back and Natasha cuddled up against his side, her head laid on his chest, and her arm thrown across his body. Steve wrapped his arm around her, happy to have her in his arms once again. All of the emotions of the day began flooding back to him. He took a breath to calm himself, and just allowed for him to enjoy the smell of her mango shampoo. The mango shampoo that _he_ helped her wash her hair with. Steve's heart fluttered at the memory of helping her get ready for the bath, as well as being in the bath with her. He hummed lightly. Natasha turned her head up to look at him. "What?"

"Nothing," Steve replied, "I'm just comfortable." Natasha turned her head back.

"Mmm, me too."

"Though I do wish that we were on opposite sides of the bed," Steve said after a moment.

Natasha crinkled her nose, "why?"

"It's stupid, and I'm not going to tell you because you'll make fun of me." Natasha pushed herself upright and turned to face him.

"Are you serious? Steve, just tell me."

"No."

"Steven, tell me."

"Natasha, no."

"Steven Grant Rogers."

"Natasha Alianovna Romanoff."

Natasha scrunched up her face. Steve mockingly scrunched his up as well. Natasha pushed out her lower lip, "but you tell me everything. Come on Stevie, you're supposed to be my fiancé." Steve rolled his eyes, but the smile spreading across his face betrayed him.

"You don't get to make fun of me," he warned.

Natasha lifted her up hand and put out her pinky, "pinky-promise."

"Again, with the pinky promises," Steve teased, but he complied. He shook his head at her, "I would prefer to be on the opposite side of the bed because I don't like you being the closest one to the door." Natasha furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "It's stupid, but if someone were to break in or get into the room with the intention of harming one or both of us, I want to be able to protect you. The best way that I can do that is by being on that side of the bed. I never said anything about it before because it was never an issue, I always sleep on the outside of the bed when you're in my room, but here-it just makes me uncomfortable." Natasha stared at him for a moment before leaning forward and kissing him on the cheek, almost on the corner of his mouth. "What was that for? I mean, not that I'm complaining," he added with a small smile.

Natasha shook her head, "you're just the sweetest person I've ever met Steve Rogers." She laid back down, putting her head back on his chest. Steve wrapped his arm around her and pulled her as close as he could. "I love you Steve."

"I love you too Nat," he replied, giving her a kiss on the top of the head. "I love you, too."


	28. Chapter 28

The next morning Natasha was discharged from the hospital with instructions to stay home for the next couple days, and then to take it easy for the rest of the week. The doctor gave her explicit instructions not to go to rehearsal until next Monday, he didn't want her to push her body to do too much too quickly. Natasha was disappointed but eventually agreed (with some prompting from Steve to listen to what the doctor said). Steve pushed Natasha out of the hospital in a wheelchair and helped her get into the car. While she was feeling better than the day before, she was still pretty weak, so Steve made sure to help her as much as she would let him.

"Is there anything that you can think of that you need before we go home?" Steve asked once they were both situated in the car.

"I don't think so," Natasha replied, "though that chicken noodle soup that you were going to make me yesterday does sound pretty good."

Steve smiled, "your wish is my command."

Natasha giggled, "why thank you." Steve had been thinking about what the doctor said about how Natasha needed to stay home for a couple more days. He was still worried about her. She'd seemed okay yesterday right before she fainted, and he didn't want that to happen again.

"Hey Nat, I was thinking that you should stay at my place until you get better," he turned his head to look at her for a moment before returning his eyes to the road. "You're still pretty weak and you're supposed to stay home for the next couple days, so why don't you just stay with me and I'll take care of you?"

"Hmmmm," Natasha pretended to think about it for a moment. "I don't know, Steve. Not have to lift a finger for the next two days? Have you do everything I ask you to? That sound's pretty terrible," she said sarcastically.

Steve let out a hearty laugh, "so I take it that's a yes?"

"Absolutely," Natasha beamed.

* * *

By Thursday evening, Natasha was feeling 100 times better that she was on Monday. She finally had energy to do things again. Steve had stayed home from class with her to take care of her and they'd had a really good time. He finished his drawing of her, which quickly became her favorite thing that he had ever given her. She even texted Wanda to ask her to pick up a picture frame for her on her way home from work that night so that she could hang it up. Natasha had also helped Steve with his business homework, and Steve helped Natasha get caught up on the homework that she had missed from that week. That night, Natasha was getting ready to go back to her room, but the thought of sleeping alone in her bed after having Steve beside her for the past week sounded miserable.

"Hey Steve, would you be opposed to me staying here again tonight?" Natasha asked as they sat on the couch watching _Jurassic Park._

"Sure," Steve replied, not even looking away from the TV. He'd become so used to Natasha sleeping in his bed that he was surprised that she still asked.

"Unless you don't want me to," Natasha murmured. She began playing with her hands like she always does when she gets nervous or upset. Nick told her once that it was something she'd done since she was little. Steve furrowed his eyebrows and turned to look at her.

"Why wouldn't I want you to?" Steve asked.

"I don't know, you just seemed like you might not want me to."

"Nat, I want you to stay here." _I always want you to stay here,_ Steve added in his head. Natasha smiled at him.

* * *

The next day after lunch, Steve went with Natasha to her geography class. Steve could tell that Natasha was nervous about going to the class. She'd been playing with her hands since halfway through lunch, and on their walk over she'd been uncharacteristically quiet.

"Nat," Steve said, "it's going to be okay. I'm going to be with you the entire time." He threw his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. Natasha drew in a deep, shaky breath.

"I just really don't want to see him," she whispered. Steve kissed the top of her head.

"I know, but I've got you. I promise," Steve gave her a warm smile. They walked into the building together and went up to the second floor where her classroom was. Just as they stepped out of the stairwell, Natasha froze. "Nat?" Steve rubbed his hand up and down on her arm. She didn't respond, so he followed her gaze. Brock was standing outside of the room by the door smiling at her menacingly. Steve immediately felt his blood boil at the sight of him.

"Steve let's just go," Natasha murmured, finally snapping out of her trance. She pulled on his arm as she turned to go back down the stairs. Steve gently pulled his arm out of her hand before stalking over to where Brock was standing.

"What? She can't come see me for herself?" Brock teased as Steve walked up.

"Get the hell out of here," Steve snarled. "You've done enough to her, leave."

"I don't know what you're talking about man, I've got class in here. I'm just standing out here, so I can escort my good friend Natasha to her seat," Brock replied, peering around Steve to look at Natasha who was still standing back by the stairwell.

"Don't you fucking look at her." Steve moved slightly so that he was blocking Brock's line of sight.

Brock laughed before pushing himself off of the wall and stepping up to Steve, "what are you going to do about it?" Steve could feel his patience beginning to snap.

"Leave," he growled.

Brock stepped slightly closer and shoved a finger into his chest, punctuating his words, "I said, what. Are. You. Going. To. Do. About. It." The last word he said, he shoved Steve slightly. Steve looked at the ground for a moment smiling.

"Push me again," Steve taunted. "I dare you, push me again." Brock reached forward to push Steve, but Steve grabbed his wrists and threw Brock onto the floor. Brock slid for a moment before growling and jumping up to attack Steve again. Brock swung at Steve who blocked it before returning with his own punch into Brock's stomach.

"Steve!" Natasha shrieked from the stairwell, "stop!"

Brock lunged at Steve again, but Steve grabbed him, spun him around, and put him in a chokehold. "If you don't leave her alone, the next time will be much worse than this," Steve whispered into Brock's ear, venom palpable in every word. Steve released Brock, throwing him towards the wall. Natasha ran up to Steve and grabbed onto his arm. Steve felt himself instantly begin to calm down. "Go." Steve's voice left no room for argument. Brock straightened himself up before beginning to walk out, as he walked past Steve and Natasha, Steve instinctively stepped in front of Natasha a bit more, pushing her slightly behind him.

"You'd better watch your back Rogers," Brock yelled as he left the building. Natasha spun around to face Steve, reaching up to cup his face.

"Are you okay?" she asked, fear and concern adorning her features.

"I'm fine Nat," Steve replied smiling at her, "let's get you in to your class."

The rest of the class went by uneventfully, and when Natasha and Steve met with the professor after class, the professor agreed to allow Natasha to complete the rest of the coursework online.

* * *

Later that night, Natasha was sitting on the couch in Steve's living room while Steve was finishing up some of his homework. Natasha was lost deep in thought whenever the couch suddenly dipped beside her.

"Nat?" Steve said gently. Natasha turned her head to face him.

"Hmm?"

"You okay? I've been saying your name for the last few minutes," Steve looked at her intensely. He was clearly worried about her with everything that happened earlier in the day, not to mention everything that happened earlier in the week.

"Uh yeah, i'm fine." Natasha replied, though Steve could tell that she wasn't.

"Nat," he said more firmly. "What is it?"

Natasha looked at him for a minute. She was internally arguing with herself, but the words seemed to just slip out. "Kiss me," she whispered. Steve was slightly taken aback for a moment, but quickly snapped out of it. He leaned forward, taking her face in his hands, and ghosted his lips lightly above hers. Even just the quick brush of their lips was intoxicating to him. He opened his eyes briefly before kissing her with more passion. Natasha returned the kiss with equal intensity, her hands flying up to the back of his neck and wrapping themselves in his hair. Steve took one of the hands on Natasha's face away and snaked it along her hip, pulling her closer to him in the process. When they finally broke the kiss, Steve leaned his forehead against Natasha's both of them panting slightly to catch their breath.

"You know," Natasha started once she had caught her breath, "if I'd have known you were going to kiss me like that, I would've asked a lot sooner."

Steve hummed. "I wish you would have," he replied as he leaned forward to capture her lips with his once more.


	29. Chapter 29

Steve leaned in and captured her lips once more. Natasha eagerly kissed him back, their lips naturally moving together in sync. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself closer to his body as he moved his hands down to rest on her hips. They only broke the kiss whenever they both needed air.

Steve let out a small puff of air as he let his forehead fall against hers, "you have no idea how long I've been wanting to do that."

Natasha felt a small smile forming on her lips, "well then, what took you so long," she teased.

He chuckled, "just scared, I guess. I didn't want to ruin anything between us if you didn't feel the same."

She ran her fingers through the hair on the back of his head as she leaned in closer to give him a small kiss, "I definitely felt the same way."

Steve hummed, following her lips as she leaned back. He held out his arm for her to curl up against him. He held her close, kissing the top of her head, and playing with small strands of her hair.

"Nat," he said after a few minutes.

"Hmmm?"

"What does this mean for us?" He asked. Natasha could feel his body tense in anticipation of her answer. She pushed herself up onto his lap and gently took his face in her hands.

"What do you want it to mean for us?" She replied.

Steve took in a deep breath, searching her face for some sign of what she wanted him to say, but her expression stayed neutral as she waited for him to respond. He brought his hand up to her hair, running his fingers through it, "I want it to mean that we're going to do this. That you'll let me take you out on a proper date next week. That I'll get to do this as much as I want to," he slowly leaned forward and kissed her, a short but sweet kiss. "If that's okay with you," he added after he pulled away giving her a small smile.

Natasha smiled at him and he felt his heart begin to flutter all over again, "It's more than okay with me."

"Then tomorrow night, I'll take you to dinner and a movie of your choice. How's that sound?"

"Absolutely perfect," Natasha replied, knowing that she was blushing like a schoolgirl.

Steve picked her hand up off of her leg and brought it to his lips to give it a kiss, "Then it's a date, Nat." He flashed her a big smile, loving the way that sounded on his lips.

"It's a date," she echoed.

She leaned in and kissed him before laying her head on his shoulder. She took in the smell of his cologne and smiled. He kissed her on the head, "do you want to say the night tonight?" he asked, "I don't want to let go of you any time soon."

Natasha giggled, "I'd love to stay the night."

"Good" he said, pecking her on the forehead before standing up with her still holding on to him. Natasha squealed.


	30. Chapter 30

Hi guys! I'm sorry for the sporadic posts lately, it's been crazy busy and my summer course just started. I'm going to try to keep up with the pace of 2 chapters a day, but if anything changes, I'll let you know!

* * *

Steve was awoken the next morning to Natasha peppering kisses all over his face. "Well good morning to you too," he laughed, his voice still heavy with his sleepiness.

"Sorry," Natasha replied, pulling back slightly, "you just looked so kissable, I couldn't resist." She smiled at him for a moment before leaning down and kissing his lips. It was meant to be a quick good morning kiss, but Steve wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. She was helpless to his touch, melting into him as their lips intertwined. They both hummed contently as they pulled away from one another.

Steve looked up at her, brushing her hair behind her ear. "I was so scared to tell you how I felt, I didn't think that there was any chance that you felt the same about me, so to be here right now is,-"

"Perfect." Natasha finished. Steve nodded, giving her a bright smile as he pulled her back to his lips.

"Absolutely perfect."

* * *

Natasha went back to her dorm room later in the afternoon to relax for a while before getting ready for their date. She found herself getting more and more nervous about it the closer that it got. _It's Steve, Romanoff. You have nothing to worry about._ Natasha decided that taking a bath would calm her down, but she just found herself daydreaming about when Steve had helped her take a bath while she was sick. It didn't do anything to calm her nerves about their date that night if anything it made her more nervous. When she got out of the bathtub, she went to lay out her outfit for the night, only when she looked at her closet she had no idea what to wear. She didn't even know where they were going, which made it even harder to decide. Natasha looked at her phone that was laying on her bed. She really shouldn't message Steve to ask. She knew that he wanted it to be a surprise, but she also wanted everything to be perfect for them. She bit her lip and walked over to her phone, she quickly typed out her message to Steve hesitating briefly before sending it.

 _ **Hey, so I know that you want everything to be a surprise, but I just need to know one thing: Are we going somewhere fancy or somewhere casual, not that I'm not totally fine with either, I just want to dress appropriately. So, yeah….**_ Natasha sat her phone down and waited for Steve's reply. Several minutes had passed and she still hadn't heard anything. _Good going Nat, you made him think that you don't want to go._ She sighed and threw herself back on her bed. Not even five seconds later her phone dinged with a message from Steve.

 _ **It's fancy, but not too fancy. No matter what you wear, I'm sure you'll look stunning (:**_ Natasha smiled. He always knew how to calm her down, but that still didn't really answer her question.

 _ **What's "not too fancy?" And I'm sure you won't look half bad yourself (;**_ The message went through, and Steve replied back immediately.

 _ **Hang on a sec.**_ Natasha furrowed her eyebrows. _What does he mean hang on?_ Her phone dinged again another couple minutes later. _**Something like this is perfect. (: Simple and gorgeous.**_ He'd attached a picture of the two of them from Thanksgiving last year. In the picture Natasha was wearing a Navy high-waisted skirt that flared out starting at her hips, a cable knit cream sweater, and had paired it with a chunky maroon knitted scarf.

Natasha was sure that her cheeks were going to cramp up from how wide she was smiling. She remembered spending most of the day on Thanksgiving stressing out over what she was going to wear to Steve's house for dinner with him, his family, and Nick. She'd finally settled on the outfit in the picture after several failed outfits. When Natasha had gotten to the Rogers' house that night, Steve opened up the door and Natasha thought that she was going to melt with the look he'd given her. She quickly picked up her phone, _**flirt :P**_

 _ **Can you blame me? (;**_ Natasha laughed and tossed her phone back down on her bed. She walked over to her closet and picked out a few different options of things to wear, but she was still having trouble deciding.

"Wanda!" Natasha yelled from the door of her room. She heard a thud followed by a grunt, then a few seconds later Wanda's door flew open.

"What?" She asked breathless, her hair all over her face. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"I need your help deciding on an outfit to wear," Natasha replied.

Wanda rolled her eyes, "Nat, I thought you were hurt, you scared the shit out of me."

Natasha laughed, "Is that what that thump was? I just assumed it was Bucky."

"No, it was not Bucky," Wanda replied, narrowing her eyes as she walked into Natasha's room. "I fell off of my bed. I'd just fallen asleep whenever you yelled for me." Wanda came in and sat down on Natasha's chair, yawning in the process.

"Okay, so these are the three I've narrowed it down to," Natasha said, gesturing to the three outfits laid out on her bed.

"Wait, did you say where you're going? That makes a difference."

Natasha felt herself blush. Neither her nor Steve had told anyone that they were going out with each other yet. They wanted to keep it between them for a little bit before everyone started making jokes and saying 'I told you so.'

"I don't actually know. I know it's not too fancy and not too casual, that's it." Wanda gave Natasha a curious look.

"You're going by yourself?" Wanda raised an eyebrow.

Natasha began fidgeting with her hands, "no, I'm not going by myself."

A smile spread across Wanda's face, "so it's a date?"

"It could be," Natasha replied as she tried to resist the urge to smile.

"And who's it with?"

Natasha attempted to act nonchalant, turning back to the clothes on her bed, "just some guy."

"Bullshit Natasha Romanoff!" Wanda yelled, hopping up out of the chair, "you're going on a date with Steve, aren't you?"

Natasha spun around to face Wanda, the smile on her face telling Wanda everything she needed to know. Wanda squealed. "TASHA! IT'S ABOUT TIME!" She wrapped her arms around Natasha, jumping up and down while she hugged her. Wanda stopped jumping suddenly and grabbed onto Natasha's arms. "We're going to find you the perfect outfit, Steve didn't tell you anything?"

"Absolutely nothing, he did send me this picture though, he said to wear something like that," Natasha reached over onto the bed and grabbed her phone, quickly pulling up the picture. Wanda studied it for a moment.

"Okay," she said. "I know the perfect one." Wanda walked over to Natasha's closet and began digging through it. She pulled out a maroon skirt, with a simple white long sleeve shirt, Natasha's chunky cream-colored cardigan, and a pair of chunky light brown booties. "How about this?"

"That's perfect! Thank you, Wanda," Natasha gave Wanda a big hug.

"You're welcome Nat. Keep your make-up simple, I know you don't usually wear very much anyway, but just keep it natural. All you really need to do is make your eyes pop, and a little drunk birdy has told me before that that's Steve's favorite thing about you." Wanda winked at her, pulling away from their hug.

Natasha laughed, "and who might that drunk birdy be?" She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows.

"Steve."

Natasha's mouth dropped open, "what! When?"

"Ummmm, I think it was at Tony's end of year bash junior year. It was around the time you and Murdock broke up. Anyway Tash, I've gotta get to work, but I can't wait to hear all about it!" Wanda smiled at Natasha and gave her a wave before walking out of the room.

"Bye Wan, thank you again!" Natasha called after her.

Natasha sighed and sat down at her desk chair. A small smirk spread across her lips as she shook her head lightly. _Junior year. He wasn't kidding when he said I had no idea how long he'd been wanting to do this._

* * *

"BUCKY!" Steve shouted from in his room. Bucky came sprinting out of his room and into Steve's.

"WHAT? IS EVERYTHING OKAY? DOES TASHA NEED TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL AGAIN?" Bucky yelled as he braced his hands against Steve's door.

Steve laughed and turned to face Bucky, "no, she's fine. Better than fine actually, but I need your help."

"Dammit punk. I thought that someone was dying again." Bucky took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair. "What's up?"

"Does this look okay?" Steve asked, he was wearing a burnt orange shirt, dark khakis, brown leather shoes, and had a black tie slung around his neck.

Bucky raised an eyebrow at Steve, "you asked me here for fashion advice?" He narrowed his eyes some, "what's going on?"

Steve began to blush, "nothing, I'm just going out and I want to look good."

Bucky stood up and walked over to Steve, "don't lie to me punk. What's going on?"

Steve took in a deep breath and plopped down onto his bed. He brought his hand up to the back of his neck and rubbed it for a moment, "uh, Nat and I are going on a date tonight."

"YES!" Bucky shouted as he clapped his hands together. "I knew it was going to happen soon! Wanda owes me $20 bucks."

Steve dropped his head into his hands, "what is it with everyone betting on when we were going to get together?"

Bucky stopped celebrating for a moment, "who else was betting on it?"

Steve lifted his head up out of his hands and grinned, "apparently my Ma and Nick had a bet going about it. When Nat was in the hospital he told me to ask her out soon because he was about to lose $100 dollars."

"Dude that's awesome, that means that Nick approves!"

"He told me he does. I just want to make everything perfect for Nat." Steve began fussing with the tie around his neck, trying to get it tied before getting frustrated and giving up.

"Dude, it's Tash, she's going to love whatever you guys do. It's not like a normal first date, you both are so into each other, it's going to be just fine. I promise." Bucky patted Steve's knee and gave him a reassuring smile.

"How was your first date with Wanda?" Steve asked after a moment.

Bucky raised his eyebrows before leaning back, "we didn't really have one. We just went and got ice cream together, had a lot of fun together, I kissed her, and the rest is history. We were good friends before, but nowhere near the level of you and Tash which is how I know you'll be fine. You could literally take her to that Chinese place she loves so much, and she'd have a wonderful time because it's you." Bucky smiled at him before furrowing his eyebrows, "wait, you're not taking her there, are you?"

"No," Steve said with a laugh, "no I'm not taking her there."

"Okay, good because you could do that, but you shouldn't do that." The two of them were quiet for a moment before Bucky spoke once again, "It'll be great, punk. Don't worry about it."

"Thanks Buck," Steve replied.

"I can't wait to hear all about it!" Bucky yelled as he walked out of the room.

Steve stood up and walked over to his mirror. He adjusted his shirt and hair before taking in a deep breath. _It'll be great,_ he thought. He smiled to himself. It was Natasha, of course it would be.


	31. Chapter 31

Steve could feel his nerves coursing through his body as he stood outside of Natasha's door. He sucked in a deep breath before reaching his hand up to knock. Natasha yelled from inside the room and he felt his heart flutter at the sound of her voice. When she opened up the door, Steve felt like his breath had been sucked out of his body.

"Nat," he gasped, "you look-wow. I mean, you always look beautiful, but you just look really-"

Natasha stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Steve's neck, pulling his lips down to him. He hummed against her mouth feeling her hands slide down from their position on his neck to the two sides of the tie that was thrown across Steve's shoulders. She pulled back, and raised her eyebrows at him, "we're really going to have to teach you how to tie a tie, Rogers."

"Maybe I like the way you tie it better," he responded, leaning back in to kiss her again.

Natasha welcomed the kiss and when Steve went to pull away, Natasha followed his lips, Steve let out a throaty laugh. "Are we going to stand here kissing all night, or are you going to let me take you on a proper date? Not that I'm complaining about either one." Natasha laughed and pulled him into the room.

"Let me fix your tie and grab my purse and coat, then we can go." Natasha quickly grabbed her purse and put it on the chair next to where Steve was standing. "Alright, come here," she stepped closer to him, instantly overwhelmed by the smell of his cologne. Her heart fluttered, and it was difficult not to close her eyes so she could just take in his scent. She could feel the heat of Steve's gaze as she was working on his tie. "Stop it," she said with a giggle, her cheeks turning pink.

Steve chuckled at her, "I'm sorry, I'm just really happy. The last time you were fixing up my tie was when we were getting ready to go on dates with other people. Now though, I get to take you with me when I leave here, and I couldn't be happier about it." Natasha finished pulling his tie through and straightened it. As she pulled her hands away, Steve brought his hand up to her chin, gently lifting it up to him. "I finally get to be with my dream girl." Steve tilted his head down, capturing her lips with his. It was a short kiss, but it conveyed everything that the two of them were feeling. Steve cupped her face in his hands, brushing his thumbs over her cheek bones. "What do you say we get to dinner?" The two of them smiled at each other breathlessly and Natasha nodded her head. She turned around and grabbed her purse and jacket. She felt Steve gently pull the coat out of her hands to help her put it on. When she turned around to face him, he had his elbow bent out for her to wrap her arm around, "right this way, Ms. Romanoff. Your carriage awaits."

Natasha laughed, "why thank you, Mr. Rogers."

* * *

Steve felt his nerves leaving his body the longer that he was with Natasha. She'd always had this natural ability to calm him down, and it certainly was helping now. He glanced over at her from the driver's seat of the car and admired the way that the passing lights danced across her skin, playfully highlighting her hair, her eyes, and her cheekbones. "You really do look stunning, Nat," he said, giving her a bright smile.

"Why thank you, you don't look half bad yourself," Natasha teased. "Are you going to tell me where we're going?" She asked after a moment.

"Nope, it's a surprise," Steve replied. He had a shit-eating grin on his face, one that told Natasha that he was quite pleased with wherever it was that he'd chosen.

"Well can I at least have a hint?" Natasha leaned over slightly in her seat, "pretty please," she said, playfully sticking out her lower lip and batting her eyelashes at him.

"You're very cute, but no." Steve turned briefly to wink at her, "you'll know it when you see it."

They drove for a few more minutes before pulling up to the restaurant.

"Bartelli's?" Natasha asked after seeing the sign. "This is where-"

"Where we went after I got my driver's license and I wanted to take you out to dinner. I'm not gonna lie, I might've wished at the time that it was a date, so I figured it was only fitting that I brought you here for our real one." Steve was blushing slightly, "I hope it's okay."

"Steve," Natasha replied, grabbing his hands in hers, "it's absolutely perfect." She leaned over and pecked him on the cheek. Steve smiled at her and began getting out of the car. Natasha went to open her door to get out as well, but Steve stopped her.

"Wait, wait! Keep your door closed," he said, quickly getting out of the car. Natasha furrowed her brows at him as she watched him walk quickly around the front of the car to open her door for her.

"I could've done that myself, Steve," Natasha teased.

"I'm well aware, you could have, but that wouldn't have been a very gentlemanly thing for me to let you do, now would it Miss Romanoff?" Steve grinned at her and reached out his hand to help her out of the car. Natasha looked at him for a moment unable to help the smile that played at her lips before taking his hand.

* * *

"Do you trust me?" Steve asked as he helped Natasha out of the car after dinner. Her eyes were squeezed shut at Steve's request.

Natasha laughed, "yes I do, but would you blame me for being a little apprehensive?" She stepped out of the car and placed her hands firmly on his chest. Steve leaned down and kissed her on the forehead.

"Not at all," he chuckled. He turned her in the direction that they needed to be headed before wrapping his arm around her and pulling her close to his side. With his free hand, he grabbed her right hand just to make her feel a little more comfortable. "Ready?"

Natasha nodded, "ready."

Steve began slowly walking them along, telling Natasha whenever there was a slight raise in the concrete, a dip, or something that she was going to need to step up for. They walked for about 5 minutes before they finally got there.

"Okay," Steve said, walking behind Natasha. "You can open your eyes."

Natasha's eyes flew open and she was elated. They were standing in the middle of central park, in front of the Woolman ice skating rink. She spun around to Steve and wrapped her arms around him. "I can't believe you did this," she squealed against his chest.

"Well, you've been talking about wanting to do this for years, I figured it was about time you got to," Steve replied wrapping his arms around her. Natasha pulled back and smiled up at him before pushing herself up on her toes to give him a kiss.

"You're amazing," she whispered against his lips. Steve hummed against her mouth.

When she pulled away, he kissed the top of her head and smoothed down her hair, "you ready to start skating?"

Natasha's eyes went wide for a moment before she got a sheepish grin on her face, "um, Steve?"

He furrowed his eyebrows at her, hiding a smirk. "Yeah Nat?"

"I don't really know how to skate."

Steve stared at her for a moment before he busted out laughing, "Natasha, you've been saying you want to go here for _years_ and you don't even know how to skate?"

"Well, I kind of thought that I would have learned by now," she said with a huff.

Steve kept laughing as he kissed her forehead again, "well, I suppose that you're in luck since I do know how to skate. Come on, I'll teach you. It'll be fun." He grabbed her hand and dragged her over to pick up their tickets and skates. They both quickly laced up the skates before Steve led Natasha out onto the ice.

"Just stand up on the skates for a second, Nat. You need to get used to stepping up on the blades." Natasha stood up and wobbled for a minute before she found her balance. "Good job, Nat," Steve said with a smile. "Alright, now step onto the ice," Steve gave Natasha his hands, and began to work with her as she stepped out onto the ice. "Now, it's just like walking, just keep sliding your feet forward. You don't have to pick them up yet. When you get more comfortable you'll start doing that." Steve slowly skated backwards still holding onto Natasha's hands. Natasha began to wobble forward, and Steve quickly took a stride up to her to catch her.

"Thanks Steve." Natasha gave him a big smile.

"I've always got you," he whispered into the shell of her ear before pulling back and giving her a dazzling smile. "You ready to try again?" he asked. Natasha eagerly nodded her head.

The two of them skated around with Steve helping Natasha until she felt comfortable enough to try it on her own. Steve glanced down at his watch and noticed that it was already 10:50 p.m., the ice rink would be closing in 10 minutes. He gently leaned his shoulder into Natasha, "you ready to take off?"

"Sounds good to me. My feet are killing me," she replied, though her smile didn't leave her face.

They skated over to the exit and took off their skates, thanking the workers before putting on their shoes to leave. "Step up onto the bench Nat," Steve said after he got his shoes on.

"What?" She furrowed her eyebrows, "why?"

Steve leaned in his lips just barely brushing her ear, "trust me." Natasha's eyes fluttered at his proximity and the warmth coming off of his breath.

"Okay," she whispered back breathlessly. Natasha stepped up onto the bench and Steve turned around.

"Hop on," he said, reaching his hands back to grab her.

"A piggy back ride?" She asked, giggling.

"You said your feet hurt," he replied his amusement coloring his voice.

"Well who am I to say no," she teased. She hopped onto his back, and he helped her adjust her skirt so that it was down properly before he began walking them back to the car.

"My parents are out of town and since the rink is a 45-minute drive from the dorms I figured we could just stay there if that's alright with you," Steve said as he set her down so she could get in the car.

"That sounds perfect."

* * *

When they got to Steve's house, he opened up the garage and pulled the car in. They both went up to his room so that they could change into comfier clothes. Steve tossed Natasha a pair of shorts and a long sleeve t-shirt before grabbing himself a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. He stepped into the bathroom to give her some privacy while she changed and only stepped out once she called him. He gave her a smile that made her heart flutter, "you look beautiful," he whispered as he cupped her face in his hands and pulled her in for a kiss.

"Steve, I'm just wearing your shirt and shorts," she replied once he pulled away.

"Nat, you always look beautiful." Natasha could feel herself blush. "You want to go watch a movie?" Natasha nodded, and they went downstairs to the viewing room. They got settled on the couch and put on a cheesy romcom.

Halfway through the movie, Steve looked down and saw that Natasha was passed out with her head on his shoulder. He chuckled and shut everything off before scooping her up in his arms and carrying her upstairs. He lightly kicked on the door to his room causing it to swing open. Steve walked over to his bed and gently laid Natasha down before pulling the blankets over her. He walked over and shut his door before climbing in beside her. He leaned down and kissed her gently, "goodnight Nat," he whispered as he pulled her small form against his and drifted off to sleep.


	32. Chapter 32

"Steve?" Sarah called from downstairs. No answer. "Steve?" She called again walking to the bottom of the stairs. Still no answer. "Steven Grant Rogers are you here?" Sarah climbed up the stairs and began walking down the hall to her son's room. She quickly knocked on the door before throwing it open, "Steven!" she yelled. Steve flailed in the bed before falling off the side and out onto the ground. Natasha sat up for a moment as well but pulled the blankets up and over her head when she saw Sarah standing there.

"Shit Ma," Steve said as he rubbed his arm.

Sarah stood at the door with her arms crossed and a knowing smirk plastered across her face. Steve pulled himself up off of the floor and looked at his Mom. He furrowed his eyebrows for a moment before looking at his bed where Natasha had pulled the blankets over her head, pieces of her fiery red hair sticking out from under the blanket.

"Well I didn't mean to interrupt," Sarah's amusement was obvious by the tone of her voice. Truthfully, she knew that they weren't doing anything, but their embarrassment was too entertaining to ignore.

"Ma, we weren't-you-no. We were just sleeping. Everyone's got clothes on, we were just sleeping," Steve stuttered. "I thought that you were out of town visiting Dad," he said, crossing his arms at her.

"I was, I got back a little early and saw my son's car in my garage. I thought that he might like some breakfast," Sarah's smile grew wider, "but it seems you might be…preoccupied."

"Stop it Ma," Steve said with a groan. His entire face was bright red.

Sarah laughed, "I'm just messing with you two. I'll make breakfast, Natasha does waffles, eggs, and bacon sound okay?"

Natasha slowly pulled the blankets down from her face, "it sounds great Sarah, thank you." Sarah laughed again seeing how red Natasha was as well.

"It'll be ready in 30 minutes, if you two will be ready for it by then." She winked at them.

"MA!" Steve shouted.

"I'll be downstairs," she said with a laugh. As she walked down the hall, she heard them both groan in embarrassment. _Best $100 I've ever lost,_ she thought to herself. _That was completely worth it._

Steve drew in a deep breath before climbing back onto the bed with Natasha. "She's never gonna let us live that down, you know?" He said after a moment.

Natasha began giggling, and Steve couldn't help but laugh with her. "I don't think I've ever been so embarrassed in my entire life," Natasha replied in between gasps for air from laughing so hard. Natasha allowed her body to fall over to where she was leaning against Steve. He immediately wrapped his arms around her. Natasha tilted her head back to look at Steve.

"Good morning," he whispered as he leaned down to capture her lips.

"Good morning," she replied as she eagerly pushed her lips up to meet his. They kissed for a few minutes before Steve finally pulled away.

"I suppose we should get up and get ready or she's going to end up coming back up here." Steve began to scoot out of the bed, but Natasha grabbed the edge of his shirt and pulled him back to her. She immediately covered his lips with hers.

"She's already made fun of us once, we might as well give hers something to actually make fun of us for." Steve recognized the glint of mischief in her eyes, and if he was being completely honest with himself, he found it really sexy. He pressed her back against the bed, his body draped lightly over hers. Their kisses were getting more and more heated when Sarah called for them.

Steve kissed her lightly one more time before pressing his forehead to hers. "To be continued," he whispered against her ear.

"To be continued," she echoed, goosebumps adorning her flawless skin.

* * *

"Thanks so much for breakfast Sarah," Natasha said as she slid her plate closer to take it over to the sink. Just as she was about to get up, Steve snatched it out of her hands giving her a small peck on the lips before taking it for her.

"It's about time you two started dating." Sarah pulled her coffee cup up to her lips, "I was beginning to think that we were going to have to push you two together." Steve looked at Natasha and smiled.

"I guess that's one thing I can thank Brock for," Natasha replied, reaching over to squeeze Steve's hand. She knew that just the mention of his name would put him slightly on edge. She ran her thumb along the back on his knuckles until she felt him relax again.

"I guess I should thank him too," Steve said after a moment. Natasha raised an eyebrow at him. "He made a huge mistake, and now I get you all to myself." He stood up and walked behind her chair, draping his arms around her shoulders. She turned her head and gave him a peck on the cheek. They were so preoccupied in their own moment that they didn't notice Sarah take out her phone and snap a quick picture of them.

 _ **SR: Guess we owe you $200 bucks (1 photo attachment)**_

 _ **JR: That's my boy! It's about time he grew a pair, I'll happily pay that. Enjoy the money, Nick.**_

 _ **NF: I guess I owe your son two sets of thank you's. 1) for getting me $200 and 2) for taking such good care of my girl.**_

 _ **JR: We'll pay up at Thanksgiving :P**_

 _ **SR: You guys are still coming, right?**_

 _ **NF: Something tells me Tash wouldn't let us miss it now even if we wanted to.**_

 _ **JR: Good! We'll see you there!**_

"Ma, what are you doing?" Steve asked.

"Hmmm?" Sarah replied, looking up from her phone at the two kids staring at her. "Oh, I was just messaging your Dad and Nick about Thanksgiving. Nick said he's going to take care of the ham this year."

 _ **SR: Oops, kids were on to me. I just volunteered you to do the ham this year Nick, sorry.**_

Natasha smiled, "Mmm, I love when he makes ham. You'll make your cheesy potato casserole, right Sarah?"

Sarah glanced up from her phone again, "if that's what you want Tash, I'd be happy to make it for you!"

 _ **SR: And it looks like I'm making cheesy potato casserole.**_

"We're going to take off, Ma." Steve said as he walked around the island to kiss her on the cheek. Sarah got a mischievous glint in her eye. "Thanks for breakfast, we'll see you later this week."

"Bye Sarah," Natasha said giving her a hug. "Thank you so much for everything."

"You're welcome dear. You two have fun, be safe," Sarah quickly lifted her phone, her camera at the ready, "and use protection!" As soon as the last word came out of her mouth she snapped a picture. Both kids looked absolutely horrified.

"MA!" Steve shouted his ears turning bright red. Natasha went from shocked to extremely amused, her giggles infectious to everyone in the room.

"In all seriousness," Sarah said after everyone had settled down. "I love you kids, let me know when you get back to the college."

"We love you too." Steve threw his arm around Natasha and escorted her to the car.

Sarah waited for the door to shut before she opened up her phone again.

 _ **SR: They're so easily embarrassed :D (1 photo attachment)**_


	33. Chapter 33

Thanksgiving break went well for everyone. Nick was only in town for the night before and Thanksgiving Day, so Sarah invited Natasha to stay with them over the break so that she didn't have to be alone. When Nick got there, he pretended to sit Steve down for a serious talk, but he actually gave his complete support for Natasha and him. On Friday, after Thanksgiving Steve, Natasha, and all of their friends got together to celebrate with one another. It was a tradition that they'd started Freshman year of high school, and they planned to continue it even when they had families of their own.

Once break was over and everyone was back at school, Steve and Natasha fell into a routine. They would wake up every morning (usually together), get ready for the day, go grab breakfast, go to their classes, meet up for lunch, finish classes for the day, Natasha would go to rehearsal, Steve would go to the studio to work while Natasha was at rehearsal, and then Steve would pick Natasha up and take them home. It wasn't long before they were nearing finals week. Natasha was extremely stressed out with the next week being show week, as well as having to prepare for finals the following week. Steve also found himself getting fairly stressed out, he had been assigned several projects that had to be completed by finals week. One of which, he had no idea what he as going to do for it.

Steve, Natasha, Bucky, and Wanda were all sitting in Bucky and Steve's dorm room watching movies on Thursday night. It was something that they'd started doing regularly since getting back from break, and it had become something that everyone looked forward to during the week. Steve could feel Natasha pointing and flexing her foot next to him for half of the first movie. It was something he'd grown used to over the years, she'd done it subconsciously her whole life. Whenever Natasha did this, however, Steve knew that it was because she was incredibly stressed out. He knew that everyone was with finals coming up. He glanced around the room at everyone, they all looked like they were watching the movie, but he could tell by the way that Bucky was tapping on his leg, the slight crease in Wanda's forehead, and Natasha practicing her footwork and positions that everyone's mind was elsewhere. If Steve was being honest, his mind was drifting to his projects as well. _We all need a break,_ he thought to himself. A grin came to his face as he remembered his conversation with his Ma earlier that week.

"I've got an idea, my parents are going to be out of town this weekend, so why don't the four of us rent a bunch of movies, get some booze, and go relax?" Steve suggested.

"I'm down, punk," Bucky said.

"It would be nice to get off campus," Wanda added.

"I don't know Steve, I really should go to the dance studio and practice."

"You can practice at my place, Nat. There's plenty of space and it's not exactly the same as the studio flooring, but it is hardwood, so it'll be similar. Come on, you're stressed out, you deserve a break. We all do." Steve nudged her gently on the shoulder encouragingly. Natasha thought it over for a moment before finally smiling at them.

"Alright, I guess I can go." Steve, Wanda, and Bucky high fived before Natasha interrupted again, "but I am seriously going to have to practice."

"That's fine," Wanda interjected, "I'm sure that we all have stuff that we need to work on too, we'll just set aside a couple hours a day for homework."

"But doll, that's no fun," Bucky whined. Wanda poked him in the ribcage with her elbow and gave him a stern look. "I mean, yeah Tash, it'll be fine. We've all got stuff to do too," Bucky corrected, looking at Wanda for approval after he said it. Wanda giggled and kissed his cheek.

Natasha rolled her eyes, "so, we'll leave after you guys get out of class tomorrow?" Natasha asked Bucky and Wanda.

"Sounds good to us!"

* * *

Sharon walked up to the dorm room door and knocked sharply. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot while she waited.

"Finally," she snapped when the door finally opened.

"Well hello to you too Shar," Brock smiled at her as he leaned against the doorframe.

Sharon rolled her eyes as she pushed past Brock and into the room, "it's time."

"Time?" Brock said, raising an eyebrow at her.

"I told him he was going to regret breaking up with me, now it's time for him to pay."

"Which him?" Brock asked.

"Steve Rogers and that little whore of his Natasha Romanoff," Sharon replied as she leaned against the back of the couch.

A grin spread across Brock's face, "a chance to make that bastard pay for embarrassing me? I'm in."

"Excellent." A devious had found its way to Sharon's lips, "let's get started."

* * *

You kind of forgot about them, didn't you? (;


	34. Chapter 34

"Alright everyone, make yourselves at home," Steve said as they walked into his parent's house. "Buck, you and Wanda have the downstairs guest room."

"You want to go put our stuff down, doll?" Bucky asked Wanda.

"Sounds good to me!" Wanda replied as they began walking down the hall to the guest room.

Steve and Natasha walked upstairs to where his room was, "think Sarah's going to come home early this time?" Natasha teased.

Steve smirked and quickly pinned her between the bed and him, "well I sure hope not. We did say, 'to be continued,' right?" He leaned down and intertwined his lips with hers. Natasha moaned and opened her mouth up to him, reaching her hands behind his neck to pull him even closer to her. Steve began to climb onto the bed over her when Bucky shouted from downstairs. Steve groaned and dropped his forehead against hers, "we just can't catch a break, can we?"

Natasha giggled and kissed his cheek. She brushed her lips against his ear and whispered, "soon." Steve felt goosebumps break out across his skin as Natasha wiggled herself out from under him.

* * *

The group all gathered downstairs and played games for a while before Natasha began getting antsy about practicing again. When the game was finished, Bucky placed his hands on the table and pushed himself up, "I think we should do our homework break now, so that we can party more later."

"Yes!" Natasha shouted overenthusiastically. Everyone turned to look at her, "I mean, it would be difficult to do our homework if we were drunk, so we should just do it now, then we can drink later." She was slightly pink across her cheeks. Steve laughed and patted her leg.

"Alright, let's work then," Steve said. Both Bucky and Wanda went off into different rooms, neither one of them can work very well with noise and distractions. Steve and Natasha both went downstairs, usually Steve would go into the little studio that his parents had set up for him, but he decided to stay out in the living area so that he could watch Natasha when he wasn't busy. He helped Natasha move the furniture in the room to the sides so she had plenty of space to move before grabbing his easel and supplies from the studio.

Natasha sat down on the floor so that she could stretch before practicing. Steve sat in front of his blank canvas while he tried to think about what he wanted to paint. He'd started on most of his sketches, paintings, and other things for his finals, but this was the only project that he hadn't started.

"Frown any harder Rogers and you'll get permanent crease marks," Natasha teased from the floor. Steve peaked around his easel to see her looking at him, clearly amused.

"I just can't figure this one out," Steve sighed in frustration. "My professor gave it to us a week ago and I still have no idea what I'm going to do."

Natasha got up off the floor and walked over to him, "well what's the requirement?"

"She called it 'in motion,' we're supposed to create a series of three paintings that shows whatever our subject is and the way that it moves. It's supposed to be able to be connected to our own lives though." Steve ran a hand through his hair, "I've seen what some of the others are doing and theirs are all really good. But I've got nothing."

Natasha cupped his face in her hands and gave him a kiss, "I'm sure you'll think of something. Just don't be so hard on yourself. You're a fantastic artist, Steve." She leaned down to give him a kiss on the forehead before walking over to the speakers and turning on her accompaniment.

Steve watched her as she began dancing. A smile spread across his face as she fell into her element. He loved watching her dance. She always looked carefree and in her element. He watched her for a few minutes, studying how she turned, leapt, and pliéd. He was in awe of how much control she had over her body. She looked so graceful, but he also knew how powerful she was. She was captivating. She was absolute art. He glanced at his canvas, everything finally clicking into place in his head. He quickly picked up his brush and began painting, continuously stealing glances at her to make sure that he was properly capturing what was in front of him.

They both worked without speaking to one another, each one so intensely focused on what they were doing that they simply coexisted with the other in the room. To Steve, it didn't feel like more than five minutes had passed by the time that Bucky and Wanda came down the stairs. Wanda went over to the couch to sit and watch Natasha while Bucky looked over Steve's shoulder while he was painting.

"Does she know you're painting her?" Bucky whispered.

"Not yet," Steve replied. "I'll show her when it's done."

Bucky lightly clapped him on the back to avoid messing up the painting, "she'll love it."

Steve smiled, "I hope so."

Bucky went to sit down with Wanda while Steve finished painting and Natasha finished practicing. Steve got done first, and it wasn't much longer after that that Natasha was done dancing. Bucky and Wanda applauded whenever Natasha was done. She laughed and bowed to them.

"We're going to go and rent the movies, is there anything in particular you guys want to watch?" Wanda asked as she helped Bucky up off the couch.

"Either comedy or action, I don't really care which one," Steve said.

"I'm fine with anything," Natasha chimed.

"Alright, we'll be back in a little bit. Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Bucky called from the top of the stairs.

Steve walked over to Natasha and kissed her.

"You're amazing," he whispered. Natasha felt herself begin to blush, though she wasn't sure that Steve could even tell considering how sweaty she was.

"Thank you," she giggled. "Did you figure out what to paint? You seemed pretty focused over there."

"How about I show you?" Steve grabbed her hand and led her over to the easel where his painting was drying. Steve had painted Natasha in the middle of a turn, her face poised, feet perfect, and incredibly graceful.

"You painted me?" She whispered in awe.

"Is that okay?" Steve asked.

"Steve, it's wonderful. Is this what you're doing for your project?"

"I was hoping to, but I'll need you to pose for me once and dance for me more another time." Steve looked at her, taking in the smile on her face. His heart swelled knowing that he had something to do with that smile.

"Absolutely. What are you wanting to do?" She was still studying the painting, taking in all of the detail that he put into it.

"Well, this one would be the second one out of the three. For the first one I was thinking it could be you in one of the positions that you would stand in prior to jumping, one of the ones where you kind of cross your legs and bring your arm above your head like this," Steve pulled his arm above his head. He had his elbow slightly bent, his other arm pulled against his body, and his legs were crossed with one in front of the other.

Natasha resisted the urge to laugh, "fourth position, okay."

Steve smiled at her, "Then the last one I wanted to be one of those jumping split things."

This time Natasha did laugh, "a grand jeté. I can do that."

Steve leaned down and kissed her. "You really are incredible," he whispered against her lips.

She hummed, "as are you."

Steve felt his heart begin to race. He cupped Natasha's face in his hands, running his thumbs over the apples of her cheeks. "I'm so in love with you, Natasha Romanoff."

Natasha's heart skipped a beat and her lips upturned in an infectious smile that she had no control over, "thank God because I'm so in love with you, Steve Rogers."


	35. Chapter 35

The rest of the weekend went by quickly. Steve was able to finish two of his paintings, Natasha was able to get some rehearsal time in, and Bucky and Wanda were able to get a head start on studying for their finals. When it was time for them to leave on Sunday, no one wanted to go.

"Are you sure we can't just hide out here until finals?" Wanda whined.

"It might be dead week Wan, but we've still got stuff to do," Bucky replied.

"Okay, but here's the thing, we could just not do those things, pleeeassseee?" Wanda stuck out her bottom lip and pouted, earning her a laugh from Bucky.

"It's show week Wanda! I can't miss show week!" Natasha shouted from upstairs.

Wanda huffed in annoyance, "fine, but you better be amazing!"

"Oh, she will be," Steve called as he carried their bags downstairs. Natasha came down the stairs a moment later and joined the group.

"God do I love you," she said to Steve as she kissed him on the cheek.

"I love you too," he replied, a giant grin painted on his face.

Bucky groaned, "you two have been practically unbearable since you finally said that."

Steve got a mischievous smile on his face, he wrapped Natasha in his arms and began kissing all over her face, "but I do love her," he said in between kisses. Natasha giggled and tried to push him away. Bucky made a throw up noise.

"Come on Bucky, we were just as bad whenever we first said it." Wanda wrapped her arms around Bucky's neck. "You do remember that, right?" Bucky returned her affection by wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Of course I do, doll," Bucky replied, leaning down to kiss her. "But when it's me and my love, it's fine. When it's this punk," he said, moving his head over in Steve's direction, "it's too much."

"Oh, is it?" Steve chimed in. "Well, I'll just have to be more careful about that." He began kissing on Natasha again, making her squeal.

Wanda laughed and grabbed Bucky's hand, pulling him out into the garage, "come on, Buck. You're just making it worse for yourself."

As soon as the garage door shut, Steve pulled Natasha in for an actual kiss. "Mmmm, are you about ready to go love?" He asked against her lips.

"Honestly?" Natasha began, running her hands along Steve's chest before dropping them down to hook her fingers through the belt loops on his jeans. She pulled him closer to her, her body plastered against his, "I'd rather stay here with you and finally see what happens when we finally get some alone time," she whispered low and sultry. She held him there for a moment before pulling away, a smirk painted across her face. She reached down and grabbed her bag, "but, we do have things that we need to do back at school, and we'll be home again soon."

Steve growled as he reached out and caught her arm, pulling him back to her. He put his lips up next to her ear, his voice low and laced with desire, "you've got to stop teasing me Nat or I'm going to have to start teasing you back." Natasha felt her knees go weak. Her heart began racing and she was struggling to keep her breath level. There was something about the pure need in his voice that went straight to her core. Steve chuckled deeply, "we'd better get going, love."

* * *

"Brock!" Sharon shouted as she pounded on his door. She continuously knocked until the door finally swung open.

"Jesus Shar," he said, running his hand through his disheveled hair. "I was asleep, what do you want?"

"We need to talk about the plan."

"Sharon, I know what I'm supposed to do. I don't think we really need to talk about this," Brock replied, walking into the room and dropping onto his couch.

Sharon crossed her arms across her chest, "you're almost the dumbest person that I know, so I need to hear you say it."

Brock sighed, "fine. The last rehearsal for the show, Ruby will sneak backstage and steal Natasha's ballet slippers. The next day Natasha will realize that they're not there, panic, and ask Steve to take her to buy new ones. When they're inside the store buying her new slippers, I'll slash Steve's tires, making it impossible for them to get back for the show in time. I'll "happen" to drive by, see them in distress and offer to give her a ride back so she makes it to the show on time. Steve's going to put up a fight about it, but ultimately will let her go with me so she doesn't miss the show."

"Remember, this one is just a warning. We're giving him a chance to realize how stupid he's being. If he still insists on playing dumb, then we kick it up a notch," Sharon said, her lips turning up in a smile akin to the Cheshire Cat.

* * *

Author's Note: So, I can't decide if I want to put smut in this story or not. I've never written smut before, so I'm not even sure that it would be good. Let me know if you guys want to see smut in this story or not!

As always, please review, favorite, and follow! Thank you guys for reading :)


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